For personal reasons that still remain secret, a 62-year-old man in Germany received more than 200 vaccinations against Covid-19. His case not only attracted attention because of the number of preparations, but also because it has a healthy immune systemaccording to scientists in a study published on Monday (03/04/2024) by the journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Researchers from the University and University Hospital of Erlangen (southeast), who learned about this man through the press, analyzed blood samples from the patient from different years, even stored for years in a freezer.
This is how they discovered that their immune system not only functioned completely normally, but that certain defense cells and antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 were even significantly more frequent than in people who had received only three vaccines, the team reported.
The mystery of why so many vaccines
According to his own statements, the man who had vaccinated against coronavirus 217 times for personal reasons. Of those times, only 134 vaccinations could be officially confirmed.
Apparently, this patient was able to purchase and administer these vaccines privately over a period of 29 months. In addition, vaccination records revealed that he had received eight different preparations, including several mRNA ones, explained Kilian Schober, from the Department of Infectious Microbiology and Immunology.
Asked about this, Schober could not specify what reasons prompted the man to receive so many vaccines.
One more vaccine during the study
The scientists invited the patient to Erlangen to find out whether his defense cells were no longer able to fight coronaviruses as effectively due to habituation effects, but they found no evidence of this.
Likewise, during the study, the man was also vaccinated again, for the 217th time. This significantly increased the number of antibodies, according to the study authors. The immune system also remained effective against other pathogens, as other tests showed.
It is an isolated case
However, investigators stressed that the man was an isolated case. No conclusions could be drawn from the results about the general population, much less recommendations: “It is important to note that we do not support hypervaccination as a strategy to improve adaptive immunity,” the experts wrote.
The German Standing Committee on Vaccination (Stiko) recommends that healthy adults up to 59 years of age receive a basic immunization consisting of three vaccines. People over 60 years of age, such as the man studied and risk groups, should receive an annual booster vaccine.
“Current research indicates that vaccination with three doses, along with periodic booster vaccines for vulnerable groups, remains the preferred approach. There is no indication that more vaccines are needed,” they say researchers on the website of the University.
JU (dpa, Die Zeit, The Lancet)
2024-03-05 20:43:37
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