It has been a very interesting first week for us!
Thank you to everyone from whom we have had such generous feedback this first week since launch of our second world-first – our BioSURE COVID-19 IgG Antibody Self Test!
We have had questions from people who are living inter-generationally or worried about grandparents who received early vaccinations. Others who are returning to work now that schools are going back and anxious about travelling on public transport and increased risk with socialising.
We know that the presence of neutralising antibodies is used an indicator of protection, with the higher the levels, the greater the protection. One of the most common questions we have received is regards to the strength of the test line people are seeing. The test line can be extremely faint, however (as we say in the packaging) “any line, is a line”.
Some people, who received their vaccinations quite early in the roll-out are now showing only very faint test lines and are concerned. There has been a lot in the press recently about waning levels of antibodies has suggested some people saw a drop in their antibody levels of more than 50% over the first 10 weeks and the UCL Virus Watch has suggested some people saw a drop in their antibody levels of more than 50% over the first 10 weeks.
We know that the strength of our test line directly correlates to the number of antibodies present in your blood sample, think of a strength of line from 1 to 10, with 1 being very weak and 10 being very strong. Even if you get a test line with a strength of 1 on your test, you are likely have a 50% reduction in the chances of having serious symptoms if you do contract COVID-19.
Anecdotally, whilst we have been routine testing many people over the past year – including our entire team (#bloodsweatandtears) we have seen very similar trends across all people being tested.
- If you have had natural infection, generally with symptoms, we have seen very strong test lines – a level 7 to 10 - remaining strong for many months, before declining
- If you have had a single vaccination but have never had natural infection, we have seen little to no immune response*. – a level zero to 1
- If you have had a single vaccination and also had natural infection*, we have seen strong test lines – a level 8 to 10 (we do not have data for people who do not progress to their second vaccine)
- If you have had double vaccination but never had natural infection*, we have seen medium strength lines – a level 4 to 7 – that have slowly declined over months
- If you have had double vaccination and had natural infection* we are seeing very strong test lines – a level 9 or 10 – that have remained strong for a number of months, before starting to decline.
So antibodies so decline, but they are only part of your immune system. You also have memory B cells and T cells that jump to attention very quickly if your body is presented again with the virus, but these are really hard to measure and scientists still don’t understand how many of these are needed to protect you against infection.
Either way, whilst we are still in this period of learning, you are always better to know whether you and your family or colleagues either do or most importantly, do not have protective antibodies. That way you have the information to choose how best to deal with that particular and changing situation. At the moment, BioSure is the only approved self-test that you can do on your own and get your own result in minutes.
The other thing we have really learned this week is the amount of confusion out there, so we will do our best to always give you clear information, as we learn it. As always with BioSure, we are driven to provide you with the very best solutions we possible can, so please don’t hesitate to get in touch with any feedback or questions. We even have Whatsapp...
Order today and #KnowYourStatus tomorrow
#BeBioSure