Man in Germany receives 217 COVID-19 vaccines without side effects

A German man who reportedly received 217 COVID-19 vaccines in 29 months has suffered no vaccine-related side effects so far, according to a study published in the medical journal Lancet Infectious Diseases.

The unnamed 62-year-old from Magdeburg, Germany, said that he had the large number of vaccines for "private reasons," the researchers from University of Erlangen-Nuremberg said.

The academics heard about the man from a newspaper report and asked if they could study his body's response to the multiple jabs. "We then contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen," Dr Kilian Schober said. "He was very interested in doing so."

The 62-year-old man provided fresh blood and saliva samples, and the researchers also tested some frozen blood samples of his that had been stored in recent years.

The research team said it had seen official confirmation for 134 of the vaccinations, which included eight different vaccines. They looked at previous blood tests the man had given and also examined blood samples as he went on to receive further vaccines.

"The observation that no noticeable side-effects were triggered in spite of this extraordinary hypervaccination indicates that the drugs have a good degree of tolerability," Schober said.

The researchers found that his immune system was fully functional. Certain immune cells and antibodies against the virus that causes COVID-19 were present at considerably higher levels compared with people who had received just three vaccines, the team reported.

"Overall, we did not find any indication for a weaker immune response, rather the contrary," said one of the leading authors of the project, Katharina Kocher. 

Some scientists were of the opinion that immune cells would become less effective after becoming used to the antigens. "This proved not to be the case in the individual in question: his immune system is fully functional," said Kocher, adding that "importantly, we do not endorse hyper-vaccination as a strategy to enhance adaptive immunity."

"Current research indicates that a three-dose vaccination, coupled with regular top-up vaccines for vulnerable groups, remains the favored approach," the researchers said on the university's website. "There is no indication that more vaccines are required."