We don’t recommend Covid-19 antibody test to gauge vaccination effect, says Khairy

KUALA LUMPUR (July 29): The government does not recommend taking the Covid-19 antibody test to gauge the effect of vaccination, says Science, Technology and Innovation Minister Khairy Jamaluddin.

This is in line with the guidelines issued by the US Food and Drug Administration and Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, he said, reminding the public, as well as healthcare practitioners that the currently-approved antibody test cannot be used to assess a person's level of immunity or protection from Covid-19 at any time.

Khairy, who is also the National Covid-19 Immunisation Programme (PICK) coordinating minister, said this in his winding-up speech in the Dewan Rakyat. He was responding to a question by Dr Kelvin Yii (PR-Bandar Kuching).

The minister said Putrajaya has allocated RM15 million for an antibody immunosurveillance programme under the Institute for Clinical Research Malaysia, Ministry of Health. 

He said the study is important to monitor the level of antibody and neutralizing antibody among vaccine recipients in Malaysia. 

"So that is the medical research that is going on. As far as antibody testing for laypeople is concerned, we still do not have the guidelines," Khairy said.

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