'Right now, we don't have a full picture of what immunity looks like. Until we do, we can't give a complete answer,' Dr. Maria Van Kekhove, WHO's leading COVID-19 scientist, said.
During WHO's latest briefing, the public health agency disclosed the indeterminate results of an introductory investigation into the antibody test, conducted through a controlled study among recovered coronavirus patients in Shanghai. While a significant antibody response was detected in some patients, no response was detected in others, and Van Kekhove said verifying immunity in those patients with high responses would require further examination.
"Right now, we don't have a full picture of what immunity looks like. Until we do, we can't give a complete answer," she maintained."That's something that we really need to better understand, is what does that antibody response look like in terms of immunity." During a recent briefing, the World Health Organization's executive director of emergencies Dr. Michael Ryan said a coronavirus antibody test may not necessarily confirm a recovered individual's immunity to the disease.According to the latest statistics provided by Johns Hopkins University's coronavirus tracker Tuesday morning, more than 1.9 million people across 185 countries have tested positive for the new coronavirus since last December.
"There are many reasons why we might see reactivation of infection either with the same infection or another infectious agent," he said, explaining that some patients might not clear the infection entirely even if it seems as though they've recovered, and others could develop a secondary infection in addition.
WHO is currently collaborating with a cohort of scientists, physicians and manufacturers to accelerate the availability of an approved COVID-19 vaccine, the organization announced in
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