A: The World Health Organization states, “At this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an “immunity passport” or “risk-free certificate.””
Main reasons why:
- Laboratory tests that detect antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 in people need further validation to determine their accuracy and reliability
- Tests need to accurately distinguish between past infection with SARS-CoV-2 and infection with the known set of six other human coronaviruses which may produce antibodies that cross-react with those produced in response to infection with SARS-CoV-2 (otherwise they can produce false positive results)
- Sero surveys starting to be conducted in many places may be able to provide data on the proportion of the population with detectable COVID-19 antibodies, but most of these studies are not designed to determine whether those people are immune to secondary infections
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No study to date has evaluated whether the presence of antibodies to SARS-CoV-2 confers immunity to subsequent infection by this virus in humans
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Given the potential for false positive results of such tests, the use of such certificates could endanger those not yet infected and contribute to continued transmission
