An 84-year-old man in north Bihar’s Madhepura district has caused a flutter with the claim that he has taken a dozen shots of the COVID-19 vaccine since every jab made him "feel better." Brahmadeo Mandal lives in a village in Udakishanganj sub-division of Madhepura and claimed to have taken his 12th dose a few days ago.
"I have used my Aadhaar card and my voter ID card on different occasions to get myself registered," said Mandal, who is a retired postal department employee. "Every single dose has helped relieve my chronic back pain. I have never caught cold since I took the first shot 11 months ago," he said, reading out date, time and site of each jab scribbled on a piece of paper.
Oddly, Mandal is not in possession of any system-generated vaccination certificate for these. With the matter appearing in a section of the press, bewildered health officials have ordered a probe.
"It needs to be found out whether the man is bloviating or his claims have a modicum of truth," said district civil surgeon Amarendra Narayan Shahi. He said that as per rules no person was supposed to be administered more than two doses.
"If his claim turns out to be true, officials concerned will face action. He may also end up facing the music for getting jabbed so many times knowingly and willingly," said the civil surgeon.
For now, only a certain category of people are eligible for a third precautionary dose of the COVID-19 vaccine. The precaution dose of the COVID-19 vaccine to be given to healthcare workers, frontline workers and those aged 60 years and above with comorbidities will be the same as that of the first two jabs, the government said on Wednesday.