The extreme history of hypervaccination by the German man appeared to be a compelling case for investigating evidence of such tolerance and weaker responses. Schober and his colleagues learned of the man's case through news headlines—officials had opened a fraud investigation against the man, confirming 130 vaccinations over nine months, but no criminal charges were ever filed.
According to the Ars Technica report, a 62-year-old man in Germany decided to get 217 COVID-19 vaccinations over the course of 29 months. Surprisingly, he doesn't seem to have suffered any side effects from the excessive immunization, particularly weaker immune responses, according to a newly published case study in The Lancet Infectious Diseases.
Some experts have raised concerns in discussions over how frequently people should get COVID-19 booster doses. In cases of chronic exposure to a disease-causing germ, "there is an indication that certain types of immune cells, known as T-cells, then become fatigued, leading to them releasing fewer pro-inflammatory messenger substances," according to co-lead study author Kilian Schober from the Institute of Microbiology – Clinical Microbiology, Immunology, and Hygiene, as reported by Ars Technica.
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The researchers were able to collect blood and saliva samples from the man during his 214th to 217th vaccine doses. They compared his immune responses to those of 29 people who had received a standard three-dose series.
Throughout the dizzying number of vaccines, the man never reported any vaccine side effects, and his clinical testing revealed no abnormalities related to hypervaccination. The researchers conducted a detailed examination of his responses to the vaccines, finding that while some aspects of his protection were stronger, on the whole, his immune responses were functionally similar to those from people who had far fewer doses.
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His antibodies' ability to neutralize SARS-CoV-2 appeared to be between fivefold and 11-fold higher than in controls, but the researchers noted that this was due to a higher quantity of antibodies, not more potent antibodies. Specific subsets of immune cells, namely B-cells trained against SARS-CoV-2's spike protein and T effector cells, were elevated compared with controls. However, they seemed to function normally.