Antibody tests for COVID-19 important, but gaps in knowledge persist

While several companies are bringing antibody tests for COVID-19 to market, it is unclear how meaningful such tests results will be because it is not yet known whether antibodies that result from COVID-19 infections will prevent people from becoming infected again, according to a June 1, 2020 WebMD article.   

We’ve already measured the antibodies in many people, so we know that an immune response is there. We just have to get better, more nuanced information about what those responses mean and how to interpret them,” Michael Mina, assistant professor of epidemiology and a researcher with the Center for Communicable Disease Dynamics at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, told WebMD.  

Mina also discussed how the timing of when an antibody test is administered can affect the accuracy of the test results and he commented on efforts that are underway to conduct large-scale studies to better understand how COVID-19 antibodies work.   

Read the WebMD article: Antibody Tests May Answer Public Health Questions