Having antibodies in the bloodstream also does not mean a person is immune to the virus or for how long immunity may last. Antibodies appear 11 to 14 days after infection, so an antibody test cannot be used to determine whether a person is infected, she said. Landry said an antibody test also should not be used to decide whether to return to work or school or whether to travel. “Right now, they’re recommending that people who have had COVID infection still be vaccinated to boost immune response and not to use antibodies to make that decision,” she said.

Landry also warned against deciding not to get vaccinated based on a positive antibody test. She said the only clinical use for antibody testing recommended by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is to diagnose multi-inflammatory syndrome in children because those patients may not come to the hospital until after a viral PCR test has turned negative. Landry also is a professor of laboratory medicine and of infectious disease medicine at the Yale School of Medicine. Marie Louise Landry, director of the Clinical Virology Laboratory at Yale New Haven Hospital, also cautioned about relying too much on antibody tests for the coronavirus, formally known as SARS CoV-2, which she said vary in their accuracy, especially if someone has had a mild case of COVID. She also said getting an antibody test should not prevent anyone from continuing to wear a mask and keeping socially distant from others.ĭr.

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