Members of the Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas who favour swine flu vaccinations for Santa Clauses gather in New York on Tuesday. (Kathy Willens/Associated Press)

A U.S.-based group representing people who portray Santa Claus during the Christmas season wants its members to be designated a priority group to receive the swine flu vaccine.

Over the next few weeks, Father Christmases will come into contact with thousands of children at shopping malls and Santa Claus parades.

The Amalgamated Order of Real Bearded Santas, a fraternal organization that provides training and resources for people who work or volunteer as Santa Clauses, said the health of its roughly 700 members is a real concern.

"Yes, we should be given the needle," said Nicholas Trolli, the organization's president. "Many of our older members are being given it, because they are in that high-risk status. But then there's the younger member that cannot get the shot. And they should get the shot, not so much as to protect the Santa but to help protect the public."

Most of the group's members are overweight or obese.

Research in the U.S. suggests being very obese is a risk factor for being hospitalized with complications resulting from swine flu. Health officials have said that might be because heavy people tend to have asthma and other conditions that make them more vulnerable.

No hygiene lectures

The group is also urging Santas to wash their hands more frequently this season and to take vitamins.

It also hopes to encourage children to use hand sanitizer without having to turn their time with Santa into a lecture on hygiene.

"It's a delicate balance here," said Ernest Berger, president of another group called Santa America. "This is not an exercise in health care. This is visiting Santa."

The 200 or so Santas who volunteer to visit sick or grieving children through Santa America will be washing their suits daily instead of weekly and will not be wearing gloves this year so they can wash their hands frequently, Berger said.

Dr. Jodie Dionne-Odom, New Hampshire's deputy state epidemiologist, also suggested going gloveless and using gel between each child, since viruses can live on unwashed hands for two to eight hours, depending on how warm and moist the hands are.

Dr. Jack Turco, director of health services at Dartmouth College in Hanover, N.H., said Santa might consider greeting children from a few metres away rather than holding them on his lap, or asking children with coughs to stand in a separate line.

With files from The Associated Press