ONS survey update - antibodies14 Mar 2022 10:48
Hi All,
Just had the following through, it’s interesting they are making participants aware of their antibody levels at last, perhaps a change in direction for the government. Also what’s interesting is they are saying ‘they are still learning’.
‘Thank you for your participation in the survey, which has been vital to tracking COVID-19. Thanks to you and thousands of others, the information we have analysed from your finger prick blood tests has greatly increased our understanding of COVID-19 antibodies, and how they affect our chances of getting COVID-19 again.
You will be used to getting your antibody results as “positive”, or “negative”. This is how the test was approved early in the pandemic before vaccines were developed and is very accurate at identifying people who have or have not had COVID-19.
In future, we will tell you whether your finger prick blood test is negative, positive, or positive at a higher level for antibodies.
You do not need to do anything differently in response to your antibody results. This is because antibodies are only one part of the way that our bodies fight infection. Other parts of our immune system, like T-cells, also help. Antibody levels can also change over time – this is a normal part of how our immune systems work.
Our bodies respond to infection and to vaccination in slightly different ways. Having had a COVID-19 infection before usually gives a stronger immune response than vaccination. To get a similar level of protection from vaccination alone, a higher level of antibodies is needed. Based on all the blood tests you and others in the survey have done, we have now worked out just how much higher. We compared how the risk of new COVID-19 infections changes across different antibody levels for the Delta variant, which was the most common variant when this research was done. The higher antibody level provides a 67% lower risk of getting a new COVID-19 infection with the Delta variant after two vaccinations, compared with someone who was unvaccinated and had not had COVID-19 before www.nature.com/articles/ s41591-022-01721-6
Without the blood samples you have generously given to the survey, we would not know this.
We are still learning about antibodies and COVID-19, and we will be using the blood samples you give in 2022 to work out what levels may be needed to give similar protection against the Omicron variant.’
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