TAMPA, Fla. — With roughly 124,000,000 Americans fully vaccinated against the coronavirus, including nearly 8,000,000 Floridians, many might be tempted to get a COVID-19 antibody test to confirm their vaccine is working.
While it sounds easy enough, there are many factors you should consider, including accuracy and cost before you rush to get a finger prick.
Dr. Jeffrey Hirschfield is a pediatrician in St. Petersburg, Florida. He's offering rapid antibody tests to children and adults.
"I find there’s a lot of people asking about immunity to see if they have immunity from a natural infection and sometimes following vaccination," said Hirschfield.
This is the information he sent his patients Monday.
10 Tampa Bay talked to Jill Roberts, PhD from the University of South Florida College of Public Health about the accuracy of antibody tests. Roberts specializes in molecular epidemiology and emerging diseases.
She's hesitant to recommend an antibody test because they can be expensive, tests are confusing, and experts already know we’ll likely need boosters after our initial vaccines.
"Some people got the antibody test who were vaccinated and it came back negative and they panicked and said, my vaccine didn't work. That’s not true, it’s the wrong test," said Roberts.
Many of the antibody tests on the market right now are fast and inexpensive but Roberts says you're more likely to get a negative test result if your immunity came by way of vaccination.
"The antibodies you get from the infection and the antibodies you get from the vaccine are a little different," explained Roberts who believes rapid antibody tests are more likely to pick up antibodies from a past COVID-19 infection.
"Those tests are used because they’re cheap and they’re fast. You have to be careful because just because you have antibodies does not mean you’re protected," she said.
Roberts is in favor of trusting the data we have based on the clinical trials. Right now, we know immunity lasts at least six months after either the Pfizer and Moderna vaccine.
If you're just looking for an antibody test to confirm your vaccine is working, Roberts recommends communicating exactly what you're looking for to your healthcare provider.
"You need a trained immunologist to read those results," she explained.
Scientists are still researching the number of antibodies needed for protection against COVID-19. We have those numeric thresholds for many other viruses and can test someone's blood to make sure they meet the threshold.
The CDC does not currently recommend antibody testing to assess for immunity to COVID-19 following COVID-19 vaccination or to assess the need for vaccination in an unvaccinated person.
Their website says, "Since vaccines induce antibodies to specific viral protein targets, post-vaccination serologic test results will be negative in persons without history of previous natural infection if the test used does not detect antibodies induced by the vaccine."
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