Antibody testing key to check immune response after COVID vaccination

With the ongoing vaccination programme and emerging variants of COVID-19, health experts say quantitative antibody testing needs to be used to provide insights on immune status after vaccination. The use of antibody testing kits to measure the long-term effectiveness of the vaccine and further doses is important.

The uncertainty over the efficacy of the vaccine and the emergence of new variants of COVID virus pushes individuals to doubt the potential of vaccination. Thus, quantitative antibody testing kits can be helpful to derive conclusions, especially for research purposes.

“Antibody testing kits give us the status of the ongoing immune status of individuals post vaccination and measuring long-term effectiveness. We need to do the tests after the second dose to identify the antibody for spike protein identification. They also provide an answer to the doubts of protective action against COVID-19 variants,” said Dr Saranya Narayan, Technical Director Chief Microbiologist, Neuberg Diagnostics. The health experts say the antibody testing is useful for specific individuals as and when the vaccination is available for the public at large. In the long run, uncertainty surrounding vaccination will be cleared and people will develop more confidence in vaccines if people who have been vaccinated are found to have developed antibody, said Dr Saranya.

Public health expert Dr K Kolandaisamy said antibody testing in patients, who have immunodeficiency and require an evaluation of the immunity levels post vaccination, can be significantly useful. He added that antibody testing kits can be useful for research purposes that can indicate the efficacy of the vaccines.

The uncertainty over efficacy of the vaccine and emergence of new variants of COVID virus pushes individuals to doubt the potential of vaccination. Thus, quantitative antibody testing kits can be helpful