As a result of an error at his GP surgery, a healthy man aged 32 was offered an early COVID vaccination because his height was recorded as 6.2cm – giving him a calculated Body Mass Index (BMI) of 28 000.
Liam Thorp, political editor at The Liverpool Echo’s, said he was left “really confused” after he was offered the vaccine ahead of the government’s rollout, sharing the “frankly surreal” experience in a Twitter thread. Vaccinations are not expected to begin until later in the year for the UK’s under-50s without underlying health conditions, perhaps as soon as March.
Manchester Evening News politics and investigations editor, Jennifer Williams, replied: “Should they not have been in touch before to see how the man the size of a thumb was getting on?” And palliative care doctor Rachel Clarke said: “This, for me, is the single best tweet of the entire pandemic, Liam. And may I please commend your decency in not exploiting your remarkable BMI to jump the queue?”
Despite being “on the chunky side”, Thorp didn’t think of his himself as obese. He said he was “uneasy”, thinking that he still ought to accept the invitation for vaccination, he contacted his GP about the situation whereupon he learned of the error which resulted in his height being recorded as 6.2cm – a mixup of his height as 6ft 2in (188cm). This resulted in his bizarre BMI of 28 000.
“If I had been less stunned, I would have asked why no one was more concerned that a man of these remarkable dimensions was slithering around south Liverpool. But he was very apologetic and really nice and I think he was just relieved that I found it so funny,” recalled Thorp.
Dr Fiona Lemmens, chair of NHS Liverpool clinical commissioning group, said: “I can see the funny side of this story but also recognise there is an important issue for us to address.”
Source: The Guardian
