Question
Why was an antibody test negative after having COVID vaccines?
9 July 2021. Related: All topics, COVID-19.
Hi, I’ve had two doses of the Pfizer vaccine and after a few weeks I used a home antibody test and the result was negative. I thought the vaccines are supposed to produce antibodies? Does this mean the vaccines didn’t work?
Answer
Hi
Thanks.
Your body can make many different types of antibodies from the same virus.
Antibodies produced after an infection are different to those produced by the vaccines.
The tests for infection are only designed to detect responses to natural infection. A negative result tells you nothing about your immune response to a vaccine.
This info on the US CDC website explains in more detail.
Antibody testing is not currently recommended to assess immunity after COVID-19 vaccination: FDA safety communication. (19 May 2021).
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