Reports of New Zealand Man Having 10 COVID Shots in One Day Probed by Health Authorities
About 89% of the population is now fully vaccinated in New Zealand, where 12,500 coronavirus cases and 46 deaths have been registered since the beginning of the pandemic.
New Zealand’s Ministry of Health has opened a probe into claims that a man received up to 10 COVID-19 vaccination doses in one day on behalf of other people.
The investigation follows local media reports that the man, who visited several vaccination centres in New Zealand, was paid to receive a shot on behalf of other people who were apparently seeking to avoid restrictions on the unvaccinated but were unwilling to get a jab. In New Zealand, people are not obliged to show identification when receiving a COVID vaccine.
Spokesperson Astrid Koornneef told reporters that the Health Ministry is “very concerned about this situation” and is “working with the appropriate agencies”.
“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”, Koornneef said, adding that “this could affect how their health is managed in the future”.
The Health Ministry earlier declined to elaborate on where the incident took place but called on the man, whose name was not revealed, to visit a doctor for advice as soon as possible.
University of Auckland vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris told the news website Stuff that with studies not covering such excessive doses, it is difficult to predict what might happen to someone who received 10 vaccine doses in a single day.
She suggested that the man would most likely feel unwell for a day or two as his body mounts an immune response to the multiple vaccine doses, adding, “it’s unbelievably selfish”.
The vaccinologist was echoed by Malaghan Institute director and immunologist Graham Le Gros, who slammed the man’s actions as “silly and dangerous”.
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