In a rare case of hypervaccination, a man deliberately got 217 Covid jabs in the course of 29 months.
Man Gets 217 Covid Shots
A 62-year-old German man from Magdeburg deliberately received 217 vaccine shots for COVID-19 in the course of 29 months. This number and period are equivalent to an average of one shot every four days.
The man's case, which has been described as a "walking experiment," has been documented in the "Adaptive immune responses are larger and functionally preserved in a hypervaccinated individual" study.
He reportedly got the jabs from June 2021 up to November 2023. Among these shots, 134 were confirmed through documentation at the vaccination center and by a prosecutor. The 83 remaining shots were self-reported.
Dr. Emily Happy Miller, an assistant professor of microbiology and immunology and of medicine at the Albert Einstein College of Medicine, who was not involved in the study, shares that this is an odd case of someone getting this many Covid jabs. The man clearly did not adhere to any vaccination guidelines.
Based on the immunization history of the man, his first vaccine was administered in June 2021. He then received 16 shots that year at various centers across Saxony state.
His efforts ramped up in 2022. In fact, in January alone, he received 48 shots. This was followed by 34 more shots in February and six more in March.
By then, Red Cross staff members in Dresden city had become suspicious of the man. They also warned other vaccination centers regarding it.
In early March, the man went to a vaccination center in Eilenburg and was detained. The man was suspected of selling the cards for vaccination to third parties, as this was a time when several European countries required vaccination proof to access travel and public venues.
A Case of Hypervaccination
It was through the news that the study researchers heard of the man's case. They also reached out through the prosecutor in charge. At this time, the man had already received 213 shots.
The man agreed to offer his medical data as well as saliva and blood samples. Moreover, against the medical advice of the researchers, he still went on to receive four additional shots.
His blood chemistry was analyzed by the researchers. The analysis did not reveal any abnormalities connected with his hypervaccination. The researchers also examined different markers to look into how the man's adaptive immune system, which is the immune system's subsection that learns to respond to and recognize certain pathogens when one encounters them across life, was functioning.
According to Dr. Killian Schober, the study's senior author and a researcher from the Friedrich-Alexander University Erlangen-Nurnberg, in chronic conditions like hepatitis B and HIV, immune cells turn fatigue from frequent pathogen exposure and lose their capacity to effectively combat it. Theoretically, hypervaccination could yield similar effects.
However, this was not the case. In the man's case, hypervaccination boosted the quantity of T cells and B cell products in the man, but did not impact the adaptive immune system's quality.
Overall, the man received eight vaccine formulations. These include Pfizer/BioNtech and Moderna mRNA vaccines, Johnson & Johnson's vector-based vaccine, and Sanofi's recombinant-protein vaccine.
Dr. Schober explains that they observed no noticeable side effects despite the grave hypervaccination. This implies that the drugs have a good tolerability degree.
Dr. Miller explains that though this case can spark scientific interest, individual cases like this should be taken lightly. People should still look for public health recommendations for guidance.
The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention have specific recommendations for vaccination, with outlined vaccination schedules. The CDC also updated their guidelines just last week, recommending that those who are 65 years of age and older have an additional Covid vaccine dose.
Check out more news and information on Medicine & Health in Science Times.
