The World Health Organization is cautioning against the idea of “immunity passports.” It says there is currently no evidence that people who have recovered from COVID-19 and have antibodies are protected against a second infection.
The concept of “immunity passports” or “risk-freecertificates” has been floated as a way of allowing people protected againstreinfection to return to work.
But the Geneva-based UN health agency says in a scientificbrief released Saturday that more research is needed. It says that “at thispoint in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness ofantibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an ‘immunity passport’or ‘risk-free certificate.’”
It argues that people who assume they are immune toreinfection may ignore public health advice, and such certificates could raisethe risks of continued virus transmission.WHOadds that tests for antibodies of the new coronavirus also “need furthervalidation to determine their accuracy and reliability.”