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Meet Brahamdev Mandal, The Indian Man Who took 12 Covid-19 Vaccines
Brahamdev Mandal is an 84-year-old man from India, a serial-vaxxer who illegally took 12 Covid-19 vaccines without suffering any adverse effect.
Brahamdev Mandal an 84-year-old man from India is what you refer to as a serial-vaxxer, he was recently arrested by the police for illegally taking 12 Covid-19 vaccines.
Brahamdev had a dozen vaccines in just 11 months, including two within half an hour of each other on the same day. He was finally stopped from taking what he claimed was his 12th jab at a camp last week.
The 84-year-old Pensioner explained that he wanted to feel stronger during the pandemic, and claimed the multiple jabs rid him of the joint pain he has had for eight years. He claimed he had not suffered any adverse effects from the jabs.
He said: “After taking the jabs my body aches and pain disappeared. I used to have knee pain and walked with a stick. Now I don’t. I feel fine.”
Officials have launched an investigation into how he was able to abuse the system and get multiple jabs.
Since vaccination began on 16 January last year, India has been mainly administering two locally-manufactured vaccines, Covishield and Covaxin. The two-dose vaccines have a gap from 12-16 weeks and four to six weeks after the first dose respectively.
Vaccination is voluntary, and more than 90,000 centres, mostly state-run, are offering jabs across the country.
These include vaccination camps offering walk-in jabs without prior online registration. The beneficiary needs to furnish identity proof – a biometric card, voter ID or driving licence, among 10 documents – to register.
According to authorities, the Brahamdev Mandal was able to sign up for extra jabs by using different people’s IDs and lying to health officials.
According to investigations, the majority of the jabs taken by Brahamdev Mandal were registered on the portal. An Indian Public health expert Chandrakant Lahariya stated that the “only way” this can happen is if the vaccination data from the sites are uploaded on the portal after a long lag.
Mr Mandal, who kept detailed handwritten notes of the dates, timings and camps, claims he received 11 doses between February and December last year.
He stated that he travelled to vaccination camps across Madhepura and even to at least two neighbouring districts – one more than 100km (62 miles) away – to get the jabs.
Although Brahamdev Mandal claimed he has not suffered any adverse effects from the jabs, several health bodies have warned others against doing such as it could have an adverse effect. Two doses of Covid-19 vaccines are required for adults to be considered ‘fully vaccinated,’ with a third ‘booster’ jab to follow.