# Health and Human Services Department drops plan for taxpayer-funded vaccination of Santa Claus performers
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Health and Human Services Department drops plan for taxpayer-funded vaccination of Santa Claus performers
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Quarter-billion-dollar program reportedly was brainchild of Michael Caputo, on leave from HHS after blasting government scientists as anti-Trump conspirators and warning of post-election ‘shooting’
A Santa Claus hat with campaign messaging on sale at a Trump rally in Hershey, Pa., last December.
Mark Makela/Getty Images
A federal health agency halted a public-service coronavirus advertising campaign funded by $250 million in taxpayer money after it offered a special vaccine deal to an unusual set of essential workers: Santa Claus performers.
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The Department of Health and Human Services said Friday the Santa plan would be scrapped. The deal was the brainchild of the official, Michael Caputo, an HHS assistant secretary, who took a 60-day medical leave last month. The rest of the campaign now is under an HHS review.
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The Santa “collaboration will not be happening,” and HHS Secretary Alex Azar had no knowledge of Caputo’s outreach discussions, an HHS spokesman said. Caputo didn’t respond to requests for comment.
An expanded version of this report appears at WSJ.com.
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