My kids, born in 1996, were in the first group who got the chickenpox vaccine. At that time, they thought they’d just need one shot. When they were going to K, the powers that be decided they needed a booster.
We knew a family where all three kids had had the chickenpox vaccination(s) and so had their cousins and all game down with severe cases after a joint vacation. It is thought the vaccine is only 85% effective and that if you do get an infection after the vaccine it will be mild. Not so for them.
We won’t know if the covid vaccine is 100% effective for many years.
I did see an article tonight that a man who fought covid for something like 40 days has super high levels of antibodies, and that they suspect that those who are sick longer build up better antibodies. Those who are asymptomatic or only have symptoms for a short time may not build up enough antibodies.
One of my friends called me this morning that her Husband has the antibodies. He was sick at the end of March with the worse headache ever, and he knew it was not the flu. He had taken the kids skiing for spring break in early March and also had a few business trips. She has 5 kids ranging in age from 10 to 20. She is now going to get them all tested, as well as herself. She was never sick though.
The thing is, Quest doesn’t identify which test they’re using, but it’s not an in-house test. On their FAQ page, q. 3
Those footnotes 4 and 5
Both Euroimmun and Abbot are on the FDA authorized list. On the FDA site,
Abbott shows sensitivity of 100% and specificity of 99%.
Euroimmun shows sensitivity of 90% and specificity of 100%.
These match exactly the ranges quoted. So, I’m guessing that if you go to Quest, you’ll get one of these 2 tests — Abbott or Euroimmun. Unfortunately, don’t think you get to choose.
My brother and wife too k Abbot test. One was meg and the other positive. They retested and both got negative. They have no clue what to believe and will get a third test
Son’s friend has a roommate who tested positive when very ill. So he stayed away from his parents because his father was fragile. He recently took an antibody test that showed him as positive It all made sense, until roommate took the test and came up negative.
In the meantime , the father came up positive !?! Mother negative. Retest came up the same. So he’s going to try to retest and ask roommate to retest.
I had a mild case of COVID-19 in early/mid March. I don’t think antibody tests are available to the public in Israel yet, but I donated plasma and got notification afterward that I, as expected, tested positive for antibodies.
I was pretty sure that I had caught the virus from my father while I was visiting my parents in NJ in late Feb/early March. He was not eligible for testing, but had the “flu” for two weeks, starting toward the end of my visit. It was early days, and his doctor gave him a chest x-ray and told him he couldn’t have Corona since it was clear. When both a friend he’d had lunch with shortly before symptom onset and I were both diagnosed, he was pretty sure the doctor was wrong, but no longer had a fever and so wasn’t eligible for testing.
In the same period, my mother was sick for a few days. Turns out both of them have antibodies; as they are in their 60s, I’m quite relieved that they are now at least at lower risk.
For informational purposes: mom is 62, dad is 69, no other known risk factors, and both of them exercise regularly. He was feeling quite bad for about two weeks, but not markedly worse than when he’s had the flu before; he says the only difference was that he was more tired than usual for a few days even once other symptoms abated (same was true of me). My mother felt feverish for a day (temp was as high as 101), and then had a low-grade fever for two days after that. I had a similar experience, but with the tiredness added.
My brother is now planning on getting tested for antibodies. He wasn’t sick at all in that time period, and was frequently exposed to my parents though he didn’t move in with them until after their likely period of infectiousness. Will be interesting to see if he has them.
DH just tested negative for antibodies and is quite disappointed. He was sick at the end of February through most of March, and was convinced it was COVID-19. In general in Colorado only between 5-10% of antibody tests come back positive.
In Mississippi, only 2% of serology tests are coming back positive, so it was not a surprise to us that DH’s test was negative.
On the other hand, daughter in NYC just got a positive result using the Roche test, widely thought to be the most reliable, especially in an area of relatively high infection. At 20% positive rate, NYC meets that criteria. She and her husband both had mild symptoms in mid March