Trump Government cuts Santa Claus access to Coronavirus Vaccine

A campaign for the holidays was shelved

The government of Donald Trump is the “Grinch” of the end of the year parties.

According to the Wall Street Journal, the United States government stopped an advertising campaign financed with public money in which interpreters of Santa Claus and his elves had promoted the vaccine against covid-19 and enjoyed preferential access to this drug a once approved.

The campaign, which had $ 250 million in public funds , was the idea of ​​Assistant Secretary of the Department of Health and Human Services, Michael Caputo, who took a 60-day sick leave last month, so the “collaboration” with Santa Claus is not going to take place , an agency spokesman told the New York newspaper.

The authorities wanted the interpreters to promote the benefits of vaccination against covid-19 in the advertising campaign and in exchange for their work they offered them access to the vaccine against the disease before the general public, according to recordings reviewed by the WSJ .

The initiative sought to “combat despair, inspire hope and achieve a national recovery” through television, radio, internet and podcast advertisements.

The newspaper also cites White House sources who point out that the initiative began to unravel when celebrities such as actor Dennis Quaid declined to participate out of fear that the campaign would be seen as a political instrument and not a public one.

Those most “disappointed” by the stoppage of the initiative seem to be the Christmas characters themselves: ” This was our great hope for Christmas 2020 , and now it seems that it will not happen,” said the president of the Fraternal Order of the Royal Bearded Santa Claus , Ric Erwin.

Erwin revealed to the newspaper a recorded conversation with Caputo where he assured him that the vaccine would be ready by the middle of November and would be supplied to essential workers before the Thanksgiving holiday, highlighting that the Santa Claus interpreters also belonged to this first category. line