COVID-19 won't stop Santa Claus this Christmas, assures UK PM Boris Johnson in letter to 8-year-old

With Christmas season arriving, the four nations of the UK have agreed to relax COVID-19 restrictions to allow up to three households to meet at home for five days.

Moneycontrol News

November 25, 2020 / 07:46 PM IST

UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson and his government, tackling the surge in COVID-19 cases, have reassured youngsters that Father Christmas will be "packing his sleigh" and "delivering presents" this Christmas, despite the pandemic.

Johnson was responding to a hopeful letter by an eight-year-old, who asked if the government has had any "thought" about "Santa coming this Christmas".

"If we leave hand sanitiser by the cookies can he come? Or will he wash his hands? I understand you are very busy but can you and the scientists please talk about this?" the eight-year-old, named Monti, said.

Monti (aged 8) wrote to me asking if Father Christmas will be able to deliver presents this year

I've had lots of letters about this, so I have spoken with experts and can assure you that Father Christmas will be packing his sleigh and delivering presents this Christmas! pic.twitter.com/pXwcjHSxZg
— Boris Johnson (@BorisJohnson) November 25, 2020

"I know millions of other children are asking the same thing. Just to make sure I have put in a call to the North Pole and I can tell you Father Christmas is ready and raring to go, as are Rudolph and all of the other reindeer," Johnson wrote back on his official letterhead.

COVID-19 Vaccine

Frequently Asked Questions

How does a vaccine work?

A vaccine works by mimicking a natural infection. A vaccine not only induces immune response to protect people from any future COVID-19 infection, but also helps quickly build herd immunity to put an end to the pandemic. Herd immunity occurs when a sufficient percentage of a population becomes immune to a disease, making the spread of disease from person to person unlikely. The good news is that SARS-CoV-2 virus has been fairly stable, which increases the viability of a vaccine.

How many types of vaccines are there?

There are broadly four types of vaccine — one, a vaccine based on the whole virus (this could be either inactivated, or an attenuated [weakened] virus vaccine); two, a non-replicating viral vector vaccine that uses a benign virus as vector that carries the antigen of SARS-CoV; three, nucleic-acid vaccines that have genetic material like DNA and RNA of antigens like spike protein given to a person, helping human cells decode genetic material and produce the vaccine; and four, protein subunit vaccine wherein the recombinant proteins of SARS-COV-2 along with an adjuvant (booster) is given as a vaccine.

What does it take to develop a vaccine of this kind?

Vaccine development is a long, complex process. Unlike drugs that are given to people with a diseased, vaccines are given to healthy people and also vulnerable sections such as children, pregnant women and the elderly. So rigorous tests are compulsory. History says that the fastest time it took to develop a vaccine is five years, but it usually takes double or sometimes triple that time.

Show