The U.K. is starting a countrywide antibody surveillance exercise, the country’s Department of Health and Social Care announced Sunday.
Up to 8,000 volunteers per day will be sent home testing kits for COVID-19 antibodies by the U.K. Health Security Agency. Antibody tests can show who may have had a COVID infection in the past. Antibodies can also develop after receiving the COVID vaccine.
The program aims to “improve understanding of the protection provided by antibodies generated following COVID-19 infection and vaccination,†the department said in a statement.
Those who test positive for coronavirus and register the result with the National Health Service’s Test and Trace mobile app will be given the option to participate in the study, but all adults are encouraged to sign up.
Health Secretary Sajid Javid emphasized the initiative’s convenience, saying in a statement that it would be “quick and easy to take part in.â€
The study will be open to people in Scotland, Northern Ireland and Wales, as well as England.
Participants will be required to take two tests, one immediately after a positive COVID diagnosis and another one 28 days later, in order to measure the difference in antibody presence over time.
The government hopes the results of the research will enable better insight into the immune response to different types of vaccines and virus variants.
The move is the first time antibody tests have been made available to the general public, the government said.
