美聖誕老人希望接種甲流疫苗

Forget cookies and milk. Santa wants the H1N1 flu vaccine.

Many of America's Santas want to be given priority for the vaccine and not just because of those runny-nosed kids that will be sitting on their laps for the next month. There's Also the not-so-little matter of that round belly. Research has suggested obesity could be a risk factor.

H1N1 flu has become such a worry that the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas featured a seminar on the illness at a recent conference. The group also urged its members to use hand sanitizer and take vitamins to boost their immune systems.

The president of the US 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 H1N1 flu vaccine, like health care workers or caregivers for infants.

A spokesman for Republican US Rep Jo Bonner confirmed Berger's request and said staff members were looking into it.

Berger hopes Santas will use hand sanitizers and encourage children to do the same, without turning the experience into a hygiene lecture.

曲奇餅和牛奶都沒用，聖誕老人現在想要的是甲流疫苗。

目前，美國很多聖誕老人都想優先接種甲流疫苗，這不只是因爲下個月（聖誕節期間）那些流着鼻涕的小孩會坐在他們腿上，這還與他們圓鼓鼓的肚子有關。研究表明肥胖也是感染甲流的一個風險因素。

甲型流感的肆虐引發了衆多擔憂，爲此，“真正長鬍子的聖誕老人聯合會”還在近日召開的一個研討會上專門舉辦了一個有關這一疾病的講座。該組織還敦促其成員用洗手液洗手，並服用維他命以增強免疫力。

這一美國組織的主席表示，他還希望家長們儘量別帶自己生病的孩子外出。

尼古拉斯•特洛裏說：“我們不想讓孩子們過聖誕看不到聖誕老人，但如果你在孩子生病的時候把他（她）帶到商場去，傳染了聖誕老人和其他小孩，那就不值了。”

他還講了去年的一件事，當時一個男孩告訴他說自己發燒在家，不能上學。但他的媽媽卻認爲正好可以趁這個時間去拜訪聖誕老人。

上週，另一個名爲“美國聖誕老人”組織的主席歐尼斯特•伯傑請求一位阿拉巴馬國會議員作出指示，讓聖誕老人享受與醫療工作者和嬰兒護理員的同等待遇，優先接種甲流疫苗。

共和黨代表佐伊•勃納爾的發言人證實了伯傑的這一請求，並稱工作人員正在研究這一事項。

伯傑希望聖誕老人在洗手時使用洗手液，並鼓勵孩子們也這麼做，這樣就不用以說教的形式來向孩子們傳輸衛生知識了。