A man got 217 COVID-19 vaccinations. Here’s what happened.

A 62-year-old man in Germany deliberately obtained 217 doses of COVID-19 vaccines inside 29 months. The vaccinations occurred outdoors of a scientific examine, and after listening to in regards to the “hypervaccinated” man, medical researchers in Germany reached out to him to run exams.

The researchers first realized in regards to the man, who they are saying obtained the vaccines “intentionally and for personal causes,” when a public prosecutor in Magdeburg, Germany, opened a fraud investigation, in keeping with a examine published in The Lancet medical journal on Monday. The prosecutor confirmed 130 of the vaccinations and finally didn’t file legal prices in opposition to the person.

The researchers despatched a proposal to the person and the prosecutor saying they needed to analyze the potential affect on his immune system from getting so lots of the pictures.

The person voluntarily gave them blood and saliva samples and the researchers in contrast his antibody ranges to a management group of 29 individuals who had three doses of mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, in keeping with the examine. 

They have been capable of measure the person’s antibody ranges after his 214th vaccination and located them highest on that day and once more three days after his 215th vaccination. His contraction kinetics — the cell response to the antibodies — mirrored these of the management group. His 217th vaccination confirmed only a modest enhance in antibodies.

They checked the degrees of a wide range of kinds of cells concerned in immune system responses, and whereas some have been boosted as his vaccinations elevated, many ranges have been in keeping with the management group.

The researchers say the person appeared to undergo no important unwanted effects regardless of the intense variety of doses.

“In abstract, our case report exhibits that SARS-CoV-2 hypervaccination didn’t result in opposed occasions and elevated the amount of spike-specific antibodies and T cells with out having a powerful constructive or damaging impact on the intrinsic high quality of adaptive immune responses,” the examine reads. “Whereas we discovered no indicators of SARS-CoV-2 breakthrough infections in [the man] to this point, it can’t be clarified whether or not that is causally associated to the hypervaccination routine.”

“Importantly, we don’t endorse hypervaccination as a method to reinforce adaptive immunity,” they be aware.

Staying updated with COVID-19 vaccinations is recommended for everybody ages 6 months and older within the U.S. There are three kinds of COVID-19 vaccines accessible within the U.S. — two mRNA vaccines from Moderna and Pfizer, and a protein subunit vaccine from Novavax — and there’s no preferential suggestion of 1 over the opposite, according to the CDC. The CDC has a table with information on the variety of advisable doses primarily based in your previous vaccinations.

The CDC just lately amended its COVID-19 guidelines, shortening the 5-day isolation interval and updating its steerage on masks and testing. The brand new suggestions supply a “unified, sensible method to addressing danger” from COVID in addition to different infections just like the flu and RSV, the company stated.

Caitlin O’Kane

Caitlin O’Kane is a New York Metropolis journalist who works on the CBS Information social media workforce as a senior supervisor of content material and manufacturing. She writes about a wide range of matters and produces “The Uplift,” CBS Information’ streaming present that focuses on excellent news.