Reliability of Assure antibody test

[kyzymurgist]

Just a follow-up to a post I made in the Vaccine Trial thread. Today was the final appointment for DW and my Novavax trial after almost a year and we received our vaccine cards indicating actual dosing.

We had previously 'functionally' unblinded our study on 11/20/2020 by taking the 'extremely' reliable Assure antibody test 40 days after our second dose and 85 days after the first. Negative results suggested we were both in the placebo groups.

This surprised me a little since I had a reaction to the first dose but not the second. DW had no reaction to either. It turns out, the test was correct for DW who received saline in both doses.

However, the trial was structured such that I did receive the vaccine in the first dose but saline in the second. I was scheduled to receive my 'second' vaccine dose in 2021 but this was cancelled after we both received the Pfizer vaccine. The study coordinator was very upset that I was given the OK for that BTW.

So the Assure antibody test may be very reliable if taken at the correct time after vaccination but apparently 85 days is too long to wait.

 

[braumeister]

Thanks, that's good to know.

On a related note, I saw another encouraging item about COVID testing here:

New device can diagnose COVID-19 from saliva samples

The tabletop diagnostic yields results in an hour and can be programmed to detect variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus
...
The new diagnostic, which relies on CRISPR technology, can be assembled for about $15, but those costs could come down significantly if the devices were produced at large scale, the researchers say.

 

[Jerry1]

I saw the saliva test being given on a new report the other night. It wasn’t the focus of the story so they didn’t say anything about it. Seeing it, I said to DW what a game changer that would be. Simple, noninvasive testing would be a great addition in the fight against COVID.

 

[Alan]

Thanks, that's good to know.

On a related note, I saw another encouraging item about COVID testing here:

New device can diagnose COVID-19 from saliva samples

That would be great.

Currently about 5-10% of the swab samples taken in the PCR tests in England that test positive are genome sequenced to determine the variant but the patient never gets to know anything other than "positive" or "negative" for Covid.

 

[Alan]

A couple of months back I was sent a home Covid antibody test after being randomly selected by the Office for National Statistics for their latest survey. The test kit, which was a pin prick blood test, clearly pointed out that a negative result did not mean I didn't have Covid antibodies in my blood. The manufacturer of the test was not shown.

I was pleased to test positive for antibodies as I had been double jabbed for a few weeks at that point.

 

[sengsational]

Thanks, that's good to know.

On a related note, I saw another encouraging item about COVID testing here:

New device can diagnose COVID-19 from saliva samples

One thing about this pandemic that I love is the advancement of things like this. These are tools that are not only helpful at the moment, but set the stage for future uses.

The researchers believe their device could be produced at a cost as low as $2 to $3 per device.

Wow! If that comes true, it would be awesome. I think it's pretty optimistic, considering the at-home lateral flow antigen tests (like BinaxNow) are $12 per test, and this test is super simple to manufacture (they just "print" the paper with the test chemicals on big rolls of "paper", cut that into many thousands of strips, and put each strip in a plastic case).

I'm also amazed that they can do PCR in a single-use (throw-away) device. Wasteful, but amazing. This technology, allowing for the identification of variants, is another leap forward. Yes, my favorite part of the pandemic!