On Mall Santa's Wish List: A Flu Shot

[NATO AIR]

these santas need to get their shots

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A10809-2004Dec18.html

On His Wish List: A Flu Shot
Vaccine Shortage Has High-Traffic Santas Being Extra Cautious

By Ylan Q. Mui
Washington Post Staff Writer
Sunday, December 19, 2004; Page C01

As he sits on his gilded armchair at the Fashion Centre at Pentagon City, Santa Claus has his furry red suit and hat, his snowy white beard and his stash of vitamin C tablets to boost his immune system.

What he doesn't have is a flu shot, and it troubles him.

Like many shopping mall Santas, he spends his day hoisting legions of tots onto his lap for a Christmas tete-a-tete. The week before Christmas typically is the busiest, and the jolly old soul will have to brave little ones' coughs, sneezes and runny noses to hear their holiday wish lists.

"I can assure you most Santas are discontented with the current situation," Santa said last week. He declined to give his name, citing a policy of Noerr Programs, the Colorado company that employs him.

Tom Kliner, 46, who plays Santa at special events in British Columbia, said the shortage of flu vaccine this fall has been a hot topic on the list serve he runs called Santa's Across the Globe, which is aimed at working Santas.

"Some guys have been very concerned about it," he said. "A lot of the Santas are older, and health is a concern."

This year's flu vaccination effort was thrown into turmoil in the fall, after British officials discovered manufacturing problems at Chiron Corp.'s Liverpool, England, factory, which was to provide half of the expected U.S. supply of flu shots. On Friday, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said it would ease restrictions Jan. 3 on who should receive the vaccine, dropping the required age from 65 to 50. Federal officials were concerned that tens of thousands of doses could go to waste because demand has been lower than expected.

But the move comes too late for many Santas, who said they will have bounced thousands of children on their knees by that time.

Nick Pallotto, 62, who plays Santa at Regency Square Mall in Richmond, said he tried to get a shot at three clinics in Colorado Springs, his hometown, and was denied each time. Once, he tried to use his Christmas clout with a nurse, but she would not budge.

"They wouldn't give it to me because I wasn't old enough," he said. "I tried to explain to her that I was Santa, and she said, 'Sorry.' " A retirement home in Colorado eventually donated a shot to Pallotto.