The rapid spread of and severity of Covid-19, scientists and researchers have been aggressive in developing cheap and effective vaccine to combat the virus.
In the year gone by, companies across the globe have developed over 200 vaccines and 40 more are underway for consideration. The question however arises, is how the vaccine works, the know-how of our immune system and treatment of the infected conditions. The types of vaccination may be categorized on the basis of: 1. Using a whole germ 2. Using parts of the germ that triggers the immune system 3. Using the genetic material/part that provides the instructions for making specific proteins.
While most vaccines stimulate the body to make antibodies, some antibody-based tests for coronavirus infection may return a positive result even if you are not, or were not previously infected with the coronavirus. This is called vaccine-induced seropositivity (VISP) test result.
Antibody tests and their functions
In order to establish vaccine efficacy and vaccine-induced immune response, measuring these antibody levels in whole blood, plasma or serum could play a vital role. There are three types of antibodies created in response to infection: IgA, IgG and IgM. IgG is used in most antibody tests as it persists for the longest time and may reflect longer‐term immunity, although it is the last to rise after infection. Many tests assess both IgG and IgM. IgM typically rises quickly with infection and declines soon after an infection is cleared.
Benefits of Antibody testing
There are several advantages of antibody testing against antigen testing. Antibodies test can inform vaccination utilization and status of vaccine response at multiple levels, a) data to establish a threshold for protection or immunity, b) post-vaccination initial response, c) duration of vaccination response. The test that detected IgG is useful to detect herd immunity and previous or recurring infections.
This test detects IgG antibodies that develop in most patients within seven to 10 days after symptoms of COVID-19 begin. Since IgG antibodies remain in the blood after an infection has passed, they can be the key indicators of COVID-19 in the recent past, that can act as a protection against future infection.
It is therefore important to understand that tests to detect antibody responses to COVID-19 in the population will support the development of vaccines. For clinical diagnosis however, such tests have limited utility because they cannot quickly diagnose acute infection to inform actions needed to deter
To enable an effective vaccination strategy, it is an advocate for the use of accessible, automated, high-throughput SARS-CoV-2 serology testing to help confirm the efficacy and promote public health.
About Spring Health rapid test for COVID-19
Spring Health is one of the first companies offering rapid test kits for COVID-19 IgG/IgM. The products fulfil the highest European standards prescribed for European standards, and therefore, carry the CE mark. There are a host of benefits that can be summed up as quick detection, easy to operate for doctors and patients, and works equally and effectively with whole blood, serum and plasma.