There is no point in having blood tested for antibodies against the coronavirus after a Covid-19 vaccination, professor of epidemiology Pierre Van Damme said at the weekly press conference of the Task Force Vaccination.
It isn’t yet known at what concentration of antibodies in the blood protection against disease is guaranteed, said Van Damme.
De Standaard explained that not all antibodies that come out of a standard laboratory blood test are ‘neutralising’ or disease preventing.
Various types of antibodies are produced against the virus, not all of which are equally good at eliminating it. Commonly used medical lab tests do not distinguish between these ‘neutralising’' antibodies and other antibodies against the virus in the blood.
For that, more specific scientific tests are needed - the kind that are not usually used in medical labs.
Also, antibodies can disappear from the bloodstream over time without reducing protection against the disease.
Even when not detectable in the bloodstream, there are still immune cells circulating in the blood that, on contact with the virus, can launch an attack and help produce new antibodies against it.
The Brussels Times
