The Covid vaccine has been an issue capable of dividing the entire world, between those who have not had even one dose and those who have completed the complete cycle of three doses. But there are also those who have gone much further, like a 62-year-old German man who, for personal reasons, has received 217 vaccinations against Covid 19, without experiencing any negative effects on his immune system. The bizarre case to say the least was studied by a group of researchers from the Friedrich-Alexander-Universitat Erlangen-Nurnberg and the Universitatsklinikum Erlangen, who published the results in the scientific journal The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Until now, the effects of hypervaccination on the immune system were almost unknown, for this very reason, when scientists learned of the 62-year-old’s case through the newspapers, they contacted him to subject him to some analyses. Experts believed that such a high number of doses would cause negative consequences on the efficiency of immune cells, however, the body of the individual in question reacted differently: some immune cells and antibodies against Sars-Cov2 are even in concentrations significantly higher than in people who have received only three vaccinations. “We contacted him and invited him to undergo various tests in Erlangen – explained Kilian Schober, of the Universitatsklinikum Erlangen -. He was very interested in doing so”. The over-vaccinated patient told doctors that he had received 217 doses for “private” reasons over almost three years, even though there is official confirmation for 134 of these that emerged from an investigation by the Magdeburg prosecutor’s office, which investigated the case .
The functioning of the vaccine is always the same: parts of the pathogen are injected into the human body or a scheme that the human cells can use to autonomously carry out the immune response, in this way the system “learns” to know the pathogen and is able to deal with it in the case of a subsequent infection. However, as highlighted by Schober, excessive vaccination can also have negative effects: “If the body’s immune system is exposed extremely frequently to a specific antigen it may be the case of a chronic infection, such as HIV or hepatitis B, which has regular flare-ups. Certain types of immune cells, known as T cells, have been shown to become fatigued and release fewer pro-inflammatory messenger substances. This and other effects triggered by the cells becoming accustomed to antigens can weaken the system immune system, making it unable to fight the pathogen effectively.”
Yet, the study just published in The Lancet provides opposite indications in the case of the 62-year-old: “SARS-CoV-2 hypervaccination did not lead to adverse events and increased the amount of antibodies and T cells without having a strong positive or negative effect on the intrinsic quality of adaptive immune responses”. No side effects therefore, an unexpected result that deserves to be explored further, also because an individual case is not enough to reach concrete conclusions on the effects of hypervaccination. As experts point out, the three-dose cycle suggested during the pandemic, possibly combined with some boosters for the most fragile patients, remains the approach most in line with scientific dictates: “There is no indication that more vaccines are necessary” .