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rulemylife -> Better not cough: Santas lobby for swine flu shots (11/18/2009 12:43:27 AM)
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You better watch out
You better not cry
Better not cough
I'm telling you why
Santa Claus is coming to town
Yes Virginia, there is a Santa Claus.
Better not cough: Santas lobby for swine flu vaccine
Many of the nation's Santas want to be given priority for the vaccine and not just because of those runny-nosed kids.
There's also the not-so-little matter of that round belly. Research has suggested obesity could be a risk factor.
Swine flu has become such a concern that the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas featured a seminar on the illness at a recent conference in Philadelphia. The group also urged its members to use hand sanitizer and take vitamins to boost their immune systems.
The president of the organization said he also hopes parents will keep sick kids away. "We don't want any child to go without seeing Santa, but it's not worth bringing your child to the mall, infecting the Santa and infecting the other children," Nicholas Trolli said.
He recalled a boy who informed him last year that he had a fever and had stayed home from school. But, the child said, his mother thought it was a good day to visit Santa.
Ernest Berger, president of another group called Santa America, asked an Alabama congressman last week to designate Santas a priority group for the swine flu vaccine, like health care workers or infant caregivers.
A spokesman for Republican Rep. Jo Bonner confirmed Berger's request and said staff members were looking into it.
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