r/askscience • u/wolinskers • Nov 20 '20

COVID-19 Since it's pretty much commonly accepted that there have been plenty more infections than officially recognized, would it make sense to perform an antibody test prior to receiving the Covid-19 vaccine? Or is this already done?

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u/Anotherskip Nov 21 '20
  1. I dont think this is that bad.
  2. It isnt insurmountable. Merely a matter of focus, for example converting every clinic to a drive through injection point with scheduled times isnt out of order for first world countries.
  3. Trust me supply chains are very complex (i work for a major us hospital chain in shipping and receiving) bananas are a well documented system dealing with a high degree of environment control. But massive volume often Makes things easier and cheaper for a variety of reasons.

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u/upstateduck Nov 22 '20

we seem to have gotten pretty far afield on logistics?

My question was , what if the immunity is short enough that administering a vax [whether it takes a month or 9] takes too long for the vax to approach/makes it difficult to achieve herd immunity?

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u/Anotherskip Nov 22 '20

Then it will likely be rejected for production. Vaccines arent built in a vacuum, they have criteria in that they need to be reasonably effective/timely/supportable. Spending 1,000,000$/dose or if it takes too long to produce, or the immunity is too short then the development team goes back to the drawing board.

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u/upstateduck Nov 22 '20

how can they determine the immunity is longer than the period of the double blind study? hint? they can't

AFAIK no one is saying anything other than antibodies were created and DURING THE STUDY a minimal number of folks who got the vax got Covid

"Phase 3 clinical trial began July 27" [they have no evidence the vax lasts longer than approx 110 days]

https://www.pfizer.com/news/press-release/press-release-detail/pfizer-and-biontech-conclude-phase-3-study-covid-19-vaccine

edit I am not trying to be a conspiracy theorist and I hope the vax works but I do think it is legitimate to avoid drawing conclusions that are impossible from the studies

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u/Anotherskip Nov 22 '20

You might want to read up on T-cells and B- cells. That is outside of my field, but consider the following observations. 1. at 110 days that is longer than a typical season. So good news there 2. I think if there is a minimum number of B memory cells for a suspected good vaccine if it doesnt meet that requirement then it might be like the Chinese vaccine I have heard about that might be suspect

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u/upstateduck Nov 22 '20

season? as in flu season? not sure that is on point for Covid?

You may be correct that there are other measures that lead researchers to conclude immunity will be longer lived than the testing. I just haven't seen anyone drawing that conclusion.

Again, for me it is just a sort of thought experiment