A man has been vaccinated against Covid-19 ten times in one day on behalf of other people, which triggered an investigation by the Ministry of Health of the Pacific, writes the New Zealand portal Stuff.

The man, who is believed to have visited several vaccination centers, is believed to have been paid to receive the vaccines. Asked by Stuff, Astrid Koornneef, head of the Ministry of Health's Covid-19 vaccine and immunization team, said the ministry was "aware of the problem". "We take this issue very seriously. We are very concerned about this situation and are working with the relevant agencies. If you know someone who has received more doses of the vaccine than recommended, they should seek medical advice as soon as possible.

The ministry did not say exactly where the incident took place. Auckland University professor Nicki Turner, medical director of the Immunization Advisory Center, said there were no data on the safety of getting so many vaccines in one day. "The Comirnaty vaccine we use is designed based on early clinical data that determine the exact amount that provides a good immune response and a good safety profile, and we know that a high dose of the vaccine causes more side effects. So this is definitely not recommended… we have no evidence of what side effects someone with so many doses of vaccine would have.

In October, the portal already wrote that there is a possibility that some people may receive vaccines under someone else's identity. A spokesman for the Ministry of Health told Stuff at the time that employees of the Covid-19 vaccine and immunization program had notified police of the fraud. "Practitioners work in a highly trusted environment and rely on people to act in good faith and share accurate information to help them with treatment. Accepting another person's identity and receiving any medical treatment is dangerous. This puts at risk the person receiving the vaccine under presumed identity and the person whose health record will show that he has been vaccinated when he is not. A person who has received the vaccine under another's name will not have vaccination in his personal health record.

The spokesman said that delaying the identification process before vaccination could repel and "work directly against our goal of vaccinating as many people as possible". "People who do not have a photo ID are usually disadvantaged and vulnerable groups - homeless or elderly, young people, people with disabilities - and we do not want to create barriers to vaccination.

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