- France mourns Mayotte victims amid uncertainy over government
- UK economy stagnant in third quarter in fresh setback
- African players in Europe: Salah leads Golden Boot race after brace
- German far-right AfD to march in city hit by Christmas market attack
- Ireland centre Henshaw signs IRFU contract extension
- Bangladesh launches $5bn graft probe into Hasina's family
- US probes China chip industry on 'anticompetitive' concerns
- Biden commutes sentences for 37 of 40 federal death row inmates
- Clock ticks down on France government nomination
- Mozambique on edge as judges rule on disputed election
- Mobile cinema brings Tunisians big screen experience
- Honda and Nissan to launch merger talks
- Police arrest suspect who set woman on fire in New York subway
- China vows 'cooperation' over ship linked to severed Baltic Sea cables
- Australian tennis star Purcell provisionally suspended for doping
- Luxury Western goods line Russian stores, three years into sanctions
- Wallace and Gromit return with comic warning about AI dystopia
- Philippine military says will acquire US Typhon missile system
- Afghan bread, the humble centrepiece of every meal
- Honda and Nissan expected to begin merger talks
- 'Draconian' Vietnam internet law heightens free speech fears
- Israeli women mobilise against ultra-Orthodox military exemptions
- Asian markets track Wall St rally as US inflation eases rate worries
- Tens of thousands protest in Serbian capital over fatal train station accident
- Trump vows to 'stop transgender lunacy' as a top priority
- 'Who's next?': Misinformation and online threats after US CEO slaying
- Only 12 trucks delivered food, water in North Gaza Governorate since October: Oxfam
- Langers edge Tiger and son Charlie in PNC Championship playoff
- Explosive batsman Jacobs gets New Zealand call-up for Sri Lanka series
- Holders PSG edge through on penalties in French Cup
- Daniels throw five TDs as Commanders down Eagles
- Atalanta fight back to take top spot in Serie A, Roma hit five
- Mancini admits regrets over leaving Italy for Saudi Arabia
- Run machine Ayub shines as Pakistan sweep South Africa
- Slovak PM Fico on surprise visit to Kremlin
- 'Incredible' Liverpool must stay focused: Slot
- Maresca 'absolutely happy' as title-chasing Chelsea drop points in Everton draw
- Salah happy wherever career ends after inspiring Liverpool rout
- Three and easy as Dortmund move into Bundesliga top six
- Liverpool hit Spurs for six, Man Utd embarrassed by Bournemouth
- Netanyahu vows to act with 'force, determination' against Yemen's Huthis
- Ali hat-trick helps champions Ahly crush Belouizdad
- Salah stars as rampant Liverpool hit Spurs for six
- Syria's new leader says all weapons to come under 'state control'
- 'Sonic 3' zips to top of N.America box office
- Rome's Trevi Fountain reopens to limited crowds
- Mbappe strikes as Real Madrid down Sevilla
- Pope again condemns 'cruelty' of Israeli strikes on Gaza
- Lonely this Christmas: Vendee skippers in low-key celebrations on high seas
- Troubled Man Utd humiliated by Bournemouth
Man vaccinated for Covid 217 times reports no side effects: scientists
A German man who deliberately got vaccinated for Covid-19 a whopping 217 times did not report any side effects from his many jabs, according to researchers studying possibly the "most vaccinated person in history".
The immune system of the 62-year-old man from the central German city of Magdeburg -- who has not been named -- is still firing on all cylinders, the researchers said in The Lancet Infectious Diseases journal.
They said the man voluntarily received so many shots against all medical advice, and warned against jumping to far-reaching conclusions from this single case.
The man first came to the attention of the German-led researchers due to news reports in 2022, when he had only received 90 jabs.
Media reports at the time said the man was suspected of getting so many doses to collect the completed vaccination cards, which could then be forged and sold to people who did not want to be vaccinated.
A public prosecutor in Magdeburg opened an investigation into allegations of fraud over the case but no criminal charges were filed, according to the scientific paper published earlier this week.
The prosecutor collected evidence of 130 vaccinations over nine months, it added.
But the man claims to have received 217 vaccine doses of eight different Covid vaccines -- including all mRNA versions -- over 29 months.
Kilian Schober, a virologist at Germany's University of Erlangen-Nuremberg and study co-author, said in a statement that when they contacted the man, he was "very interested" in undergoing a range of tests to examine the effect of so many vaccinations.
- Most vaccinated person ever? -
The case allowed the researchers an extremely rare chance to study what is known as "hyper-vaccination".
Some scientists have theorised that after being hit by so many vaccinations, a body's immune cells would become less effective as they became accustomed to the antigens.
But that was not the case for the German man, the researchers found.
In fact, he had "considerably higher concentrations" of immune cells and antibodies for the Covid virus than a control group of three people who received the recommended three vaccinations, the study said.
His body also showed no sign of fatigue from all those vaccinations -- his 217th jab still boosted his number of antibodies against Covid, the researchers found.
The man reported that he never had any vaccine-related side effects from any of the 217 jabs. He also never tested positive for Covid and showed no signs of past infection, the researchers said.
But they warned against taking away any wider lessons from the man's experience.
"It should go without saying that we do not endorse hypervaccination," Schober wrote on X, formerly Twitter.
Caitjan Gainty, an expert in the history of vaccines at King's College London not involved in the study, told AFP she had "never come across a historical discussion of someone who received more vaccinations than this".
It is "relatively unlikely" that anyone has ever had more vaccinations than the man, she added.
Spyros Lytras, a virologist at the University of Tokyo, said it was a "comically large number of vaccinations".
"Whether this is the most vaccinated person in history, I cannot know, but they are certainly the most vaccinated person reported to date" by some margin, he told AFP.
"And I doubt that we're going to see another such report any time soon."
X.Matos--PC