Antibody tests are flooding the market, but only four so far are FDA-approved.
Dr. Mike, a family medicine physician, says we still don’t have enough information to be able to confirm whether or not someone is immune to COVID-19 —even if the person has tested positive for and subsequently cleared coronavirus. Unlike the measles or chicken pox vaccine, which ensure long-lasting immunity, the length of time for COVID-19 immunity is still a big unknown. “There exists an assumption where people think that if they test positive for antibodies, meaning that they have antibodies in their bloodstream, that they’re automatically immune to COVID-19. And while that’s decent thinking, it’s not 100-percent accurate,” he explained. Moving forward, Dr. Mike Varshavski, who boasts 5.5 million YouTube subscribers, asserts that the FDA needs to step into “high gear” to figure out the exact research and methodologies behind all these antibody tests, “so that we’re not just running amok.”
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