'Do antibody tests before & after Covid shot'

KOLKATA: A section of health experts suggested getting antibody tests done before and after taking a shot of Covid vaccine. "If a person undergoes antibody tests before receiving a shot, it would help the doctors to find out the starting level of antibodies in that person and it will assist in evaluating changes in antibody level that the vaccine induces," the experts said.

Dr Gopeswar Mukherjee, an expert in the field, said: "It can help us in determining the changes in antibodies in a person after administering the vaccine. We will easily find out the development of antibodies directed against the SARS-CoV-2 spike protein if the antibody tests are done before and after the vaccination." Dr Mukherjee also said reactionary fever is a very common symptom which signifies that doses of vaccine have an impact on the immune system of the body. "If antibody is found to be zero in a person before taking a jab, it means that the person was never infected with Covid. If some is found to have antibodies developed before being administered the vaccine, it indicates that he or she was once infected with the virus. If one finds that his antibody level does not increase after 15 days since administration of the vaccine, it suggests that person has compromised immune system or the vaccine did not work in the body. If one does not complain about reactionary fever after receiving the vaccine, it appears that the vaccine did not have much impact on the immune system of the body," said experts.

Another city doctor said: "We are of the view that antibody tests should be done before and after the vaccine is given. Many have undergone antibody tests and were surprised to see that they had high antibody levels and were infected with the virus even though they did not know that they were positive. If we see the antibodies increase before the first and after second dose, we can assume the vaccines work," he said.