Rep. Elise Stefanik (R-NY) on Monday called for Dr. Anthony Fauci to be fired to “save Christmas” after the White House chief medical adviser said that because of the Chinese coronavirus, it is “too soon to tell” if friends and family may gather for Christmas.

“Fire Fauci. Save Christmas!” the GOP conference chair said Monday morning:

Several social media users agreed.

“Whether he gets fired or not (and he should) Do Christmas and ignore Fauci,” one said.

“100% FIRE FAUCI! NO ONE, AND I MEAN NO ONE….WILL EVER TELL ME WHO I CAN SPEND CHRISTMAS WITH! PERIOD!” another remarked, while another quipped, “Who the heck is listening to Dr. DOOM anymore?”

Fauci made the remark during an appearance on Face the Nation, telling anchor Margaret Brennan it is “just too soon to tell” if people may gather for Christmas.

AP Photo/Alessandra Tarantino

He continued:

We have to concentrate on continuing to get those numbers down and not try to jump ahead by weeks or months and say what we’re going to do at a particular time. Let’s focus like a laser on continuing to get those cases down. And we can do it by people getting vaccinated–also, in the situation where boosters are appropriate to get people boosted because we know they can help greatly in diminishing infection and diminishing advanced disease.

The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases head offered similar warnings last year, previewing a dark winter and explaining he was looking forward to “Christmas in 2021.”

“For my own family, I’m saying we had a really great Thanksgiving and Christmas last year. We’re looking forward to a really great Thanksgiving and Christmas in 2021,” Fauci told USA Today at the time.