84-Year-Old Man Receives 11 COVID-19 Vaccine Shots, Says 'I Benefited A Lot'

An 84-year-old man in India has claimed to have taken 11 COVID-19 vaccine shots as the country is working on plans to administer the booster (third) dose to its citizens.

The man has been identified as Brahmadev Mandal, a resident of Orai village in the state of Bihar. The police took Mandal for questioning before he could receive his 12th dose.

Mandal told local media outlets he took 11 doses as the vaccines had beneficial effects on him.

“I benefited a lot from the vaccine. This is why I have been taking it repeatedly,” he said, according to India Today.

Mandal, an ex-postal department employee, said he took his first vaccine shot on Feb. 13 last year. Between Feb. 13 and Dec. 30, he took 11 jabs at a Public Health Centre. He kept a record of the place, date and time when the shots were administered to him.

“The government has made a wonderful thing [vaccine]," he said, appealing to everyone to take the vaccine to fight coronavirus. It wasn't clear how Mandal's case came into the light.

However, Mandal's case has raised questions on the government's system to track the number of vaccines an individual can receive. Mandal allegedly submitted his Aadhaar card (a government-issued identification number) and his phone number on eight occasions, and used his voter ID card and his wife’s phone number during the other three instances.

The civil surgeon of the Madhepura district told the local media they will investigate the matter to find out how Mandal managed to take so many doses, Free Press Journal reported.

Health department officials claimed the system can be cheated at the offline camps.

As India sees a massive surge in COVID-19 cases, the government this week began vaccination for children aged between 15 and 18 years. Booster dose for frontline workers and the people above 60 years with comorbidities will begin from next week.

On Wednesday, India reported 58,097 fresh cases in the last 24 hours, 55 percent higher than Tuesday's 37,379 cases. The government has been continuously speeding up vaccination drives across the country.

A total of 2,135 cases of Omicron variant of coronavirus have been detected across 23 states and Union Territories so far. Several states have announced restrictions like night curfew as COVID-19 cases continue to rise.