KOZHIKODE: Aisheera Jamal of Kuttichira here was excited to get her Covid antibody test done along with her family, as she was eagerly waiting for her summer trip to Europe.
She assumed that if things went right in antibody tests, then she would have a safe travel, as her body had created enough antibodies to fight the virus after second dose.
Unfortunately, Aisheera’s report disappointed her, as the report stated that her body had developed only less than 10 IU of antibody count despite taking the second dose of vaccine a month ago.
As per the recommendation of WHO, a vaccine can be deemed protective from any virus if it is able to bring the antibody count somewhere between 100 and 1,000 IU.
At the same time, medical experts state that immunity could scale upwards of 300 when a person is vaccinated.
It is said antibody tests can help determine the effectiveness of a vaccine and may even reveal who might be more susceptible to reinfection at a certain point.
Unfortunately, all five people who took antibody tests from Aisheera’s family had less than 100 IU of antibody count.
“At this point, I really doubt why we had taken vaccination, as even a person who has not taken the vaccine will have over 50 IU of antibody count, as per our doctors,’’ said Aisheera.
“Only due to this travel, we had taken the antibody test. Otherwise, we would never have known about its impact. Since all tickets for the trip have already been booked, we are not in a state to cancel them. Till we return, we will have this fear within,” she said.
When the antibody test was done by another six people as per a request from TNIE, except for two persons, the rest had a very low antibody level developed even 20 days after receiving the second dose of Covid vaccine.
The two who had antibodies above 100 are in their 20s and were Covid infected in April.
“Due to several factors, the antibodies count might go low or high in people depending on their physical conditions,” said Dr Amar Fettle, former Covid state nodal officer and present H1N1 nodal officer.
“Very rarely, people in Kerala take the antibody tests as we never recommend one unless it is absolutely necessary. So far, no research has been undertaken in the state to evaluate the effectiveness of the Covid vaccination, as the Centre had entrusted the responsibility with the manufacturers concerned,” he pointed out.
Since antibody tests cost between Rs 2,500 and Rs 3,000, many people don’t prefer to take the test. But most of the people who get it done are those who have plans for long travel to different countries.
Doctors at Kozhikode MCH said everyone will be equally protected against the virus and hence getting antibody test is not required unless you want to be certain about the antibody count 14 days after receiving the second dose.
As per a private laboratory here that had conducted over 45 Covid antibody tests since April this year, very few persons had shown the satisfactory levels of antibodies developed after the second dose.
Test reports of even young people have shown only less than 100 IU.
According to the experts, antibody tests have a vital role to play in the fight against Covid, helping measure the antibody response after infection or vaccination.
There are two types of antibodies in blood.
The first one, IgM, in general, is the body’s first line of defence against a virus, while the second one, IgG, offers a more sustained immune response to a virus.
The test helps identify the persons more at risk of infection and those who have been previously infected, one of them said.
“After two shots, most people are immune to the virus variants known so far but antibody tests taken by many are proving differently,” said a virologist from a private hospital here.
“This proves that vaccination alone is no guarantee for being immune. What matters is whether the body has built up sufficient immune protection. Unfortunately, we can’t measure that at the moment.”