A man is under investigation after authorities learnt he used different names to receive up to ten Covid jabs in one day.
According to Stuff, the unnamed individual, from New Zealand, is believed to have signed up for the jabs at different centres on behalf of other people so they could claim they’ve been vaccinated.
New Zealanders must show a vaccine pass in order to visit some businesses and attend events in the country.
Astrid Koornneef, group manager operations for the Covid-19 vaccine and immunisation program in New Zealand, said they are looking into how this could have happened.
“We are very concerned about this situation and are working with the appropriate agencies,” she said.
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Meanwhile, University of Auckland vaccinologist and associate professor Helen Petousis-Harris said the man would feel pretty ill the next day.
“We know that people have in error been given the whole five doses in a vial instead of it being diluted, we know that has happened overseas, and we know with other vaccines errors have occurred and there has been no long-term problems,” she said.
“To assume another person’s identity and receive a medical treatment is dangerous.
“This puts at risk the person who receives a vaccination under an assumed identify and the person whose health record will show they have been vaccinated when they have not.
“Having an inaccurate vaccination status not only puts you at risk, it puts your friends, whÄnau and community at risk, and the healthcare teams that treat you now in the future.
“Medical practitioners operate in a high-trust environment and rely on people to act in good faith to share information accurately to assist with their treatment.”
Auckland University professor Nikki Turner, medical director of the Immunisation Advisory Centre, added there was no data on the safety of receiving that many vaccines in one day.
“The Comirnaty vaccine, the one we’re using, is designed based on early clinical data that works out what’s the right amount to give a good immune response and to give a good safety profile, and we do know that a high dose vaccine creates more side effects.
“So this is definitely not recommended … we have no evidence as to what side effects somebody would have with this amount of vaccine.
“This is not a safe thing to do, this is putting that person at risk.”
Of the eligible population in NZ, 94 per cent of people have had their first dose and 89 per cent have had two.
It takes all sorts to make a world. Had he been a British resident, this would be a pretty bizarre interpretation of Boris Johnson’s booster plan.
