Are antibody tests useful?

[FeelingJittery1]

I’ve had my first jab 7 days ago (Pfizer)- it was a massive mental battle.

It’s done now- but now the worry (or anxiety) is that schools are going to open and it feel like it’s a ‘free fall’ now - no safety measures

I know I’m going to catch it come September- husband double vaccinated - wfh

I’m between contracts - so no work contact

But daughter (7 years) will be in school/music and swimming.

She will catch it snd bring it home.

My dad is in hospital after a bi-pass having caught Covid and on oxygen

This obviously had played on my mind-

Is it worth doing an antibody test to see what level of protection we have?

I’m 40 and husband 47 - no known underlying conditions

I meant to ask about vaccine antibody as supposed to antibody tests to check if you had Covid. I understand there are two?

Bump?

I can't see that they are, for you. I was offered one by the Zoe app, but turned it down, as I'd previously had no antibodies from a private test after "moderate coronavirus" (as in, bed for a month plus 2 further weeks of illness). They may be interesting to the researchers, but do they tell you whether you are immune or not, even to one particular strain? No. That said, I'm not a scientist, so I suppose others may be aware of other benefits to individuals.

I did one but you need to wait for at least four weeks I think to give the antibodies time to develop.Ideally you'd wait until after the second jab. Unless there's some reason to believe you are unlikely to respond I can't see the point tbh.

@Tinpotspectator I was after the antibody test after the vaccine. I understand there are two?

One to check antibodies after your had Covid or to check if you had Covid

Then there is another one to see antibodies after the vaccine..

@PastMyBestBeforeDate I didn’t have much side effects -not sure if there is a correlation or not

I don't think there is a correlation. People were asking this a lot earlier this year and the answer seemed to be there wasn't .
There are specific vaccine antibody tests.

You need to wait till after fully vaccinated plus x weeks - then you can get a test to check that you have developed antibodies.

It’s quite reassuring to know.

Also it was AZ that people seemed to react after the first dose but Pfizer seemed to be the second dose.

@PastMyBestBeforeDate - oh I thought that was a mumsnet analysis- as at work I’ve spoken to people who had effects with the 1st, some with 2nd some non for both

@ShowMeHow ok- I’m going to get Covid in September aren’t I? 😢😢

You aren't necessarily going to get covid no. We are double vaccinated. DS got it, we didn't catch it. If we had, it would likely have been very mild.

I had an antigen test through zoe to see if I'd had non symptomatic covid it was -ve, caveated with for the last 6 months.

You can get an antibody test for around £95 but it’s best to wait until 3 weeks after the second jab.

However, I am not sure what the point would be as you can still catch Covid even if you are double-jabbed and have antibodies.

If you are 40 with no risk factors you are very unlikely to be hospitalised.

@RosesAndHellebores I’m not double vaccinated- my second dose is early Oct.

Husband is

I read somewhere long time back that children carry same levels of the virus load but not sure if that’s changed/updated.

I’ve stopped reading into this..cannot handle it mentally

My daughter is 7 so no chance of ‘Covid precautions’ when school opens

P.S. I hope your Dad gets well soon.

@Egghead68 thank you

@FeelingJittery1 why ever not. My DC of 26 and 23 are.

@RosesAndHellebores in my op I’ve explained- it was a massive mental battle to get the vaccine for me- I was/still am petrified of the vaccine and Covid

To be entirely fair then if you delayed taking the first vaccine on the basis of flawed understanding of the potential risks you have put yourself in this situation and need to deal with it.

Out of 66m people in the UK only 7m are known to have had it. Of those 7m the percentage of people who have died (whilst tragic) is vanishingly small and many had underlying vulnerabilities.

I am much older than you and work in HE and within the rules have continued to go out and about. Life has to go on.

Your posts do seem to indicate you are suffering from anxiety and I wonder if you need some clinical support to deal with it. Also the Zoe App is very good and provides straightforward information. Try it.

Ok
First of all well done for facing your fears and getting the vaccine
Secondly yes there are tests to see antibodies from jabs ( just got mine to do this weekend) but as people say best done a few weeks after second jab
Thirdly. You are well on your way to getting yourself more protection. Keep your distance, sanitize, ventilate where possible. I think kids are having lateral flow tests on return so that should help. You are more protected personally than you have ever been
Take care

I've had both tests and it's quite nice to know but it's too early to get your tests yet isn't it?

I’ve stopped reading into this..cannot handle it mentally

With the greatest of respect, what you’re doing now is essentially the same but worse-you’re asking a load of non experts, some with anti vaxx agendas instead of using reputable sources of information.

You need help. Real life help. All these threads are not a substitute for actual real life mental health support.

I have done 2 one basic one before the vaccine as I thought I'd had covid but negative antibodies. Did a more in depth one as part of a trial after my second vaccine and despite having had a big response to the vaccine it was still negative I'm even negative for T cell immunity which is brilliant

I've got my booster in September as I'm frontline nhs ward staff but I doubt it'll work