Getting antibody test not a replacement for COVID-19 vaccine: Dr. Joss Reimer

Getting a COVID-19 antibody test is expensive, unnecessary and may lead to a false sense of reassurance that you can't get sick, says the medical lead of Manitoba's vaccine task force. 

Because antibody testing is one of the measures scientists use to gauge the success of vaccines, many people falsely believe that getting one of these tests proves they are immune to the illness, Dr. Joss Reimer said during a news conference Wednesday. 

In fact, antibodies are not the best indicator of immunity, she said, adding that vaccine immune response is much more nuanced than just checking for antibodies. 

"The information an antibody test gives you as an individual is not enough to be meaningful and we don't yet know how to interpret the numbers that you are being given," she said. 

The best thing you can do to be assured you are protected against COVID-19 is to get the vaccine, even if you have already had COVID-19, Reimer said.

She also addressed fears COVID-19 vaccines could potentially alter a person's DNA, another common concern around the vaccines.

She said the messenger RNA, or mRNA, contained in vaccines acts as instructions for your body. Our bodies produce messenger RNA naturally all the time to help us function normally, she explained. 

In the case of vaccines, rather than our bodies making the messenger RNA, the vaccine provides it in order to help the body learn how to protect itself against future infections, she said. 

"But the instructions are still read and managed the same way as always," she said. 

"The instructions are not stored anywhere in your body, and they never enter the part of the cell where DNA is stored." 

As of Wednesday, 79.1 per cent of Manitobans had at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine, while 67.8 per cent had two doses, according to provincial data.