Covid-19 Vaccine Response Blood Test

Introduced in January 2021, the Covid-19 quantitative IgG in-clinic antibody blood test is designed to let you know how your body has responded to catching the virus or having the vaccine.

You will be emailed with a quantitative measure of your body’s antibody response to the virus/vaccine.

• One in three people who have has the virus are asymptomatic. This test may help you to learn if you’ve been infected without knowing it.
• Understand your body’s response to the virus or vaccine.
• Monitor your antibody levels over time.

Currently, the quantitative IgG antibody blood test is available at our Birmingham clinic.

VIVO Clinic
BEHIND THE CIBA BUILDING AT THE BOTTOM OF THE CAR PARK
146 Hagley Road
Birmingham
B16 9NX

See full arrival instructions here

IgG & IgM antibody tests are designed to tell you if you’ve got antibodies in response to the virus or vaccine. The Quantitative test tells you the level of your antibody response (between levels of 0 – 80,000 AU/ml). The former will simply tell you if you’ve had the virus.

The quantitative test shows the scale of your response to the virus or the vaccine, which is an important distinction, especially when an additional test is done in the future as you will be able to see the rate at which the antibodies are diminishing.

The test must be taken at least seven days, and ideally 15 days after the infection or vaccination. After 15 days, your levels are likely to be at a peak and the test will be 99.4% sensitive in confirming spike protein exposure.

We will send your blood sample to our lab promptly and results will be emailed to you once the sample is processed (usually 2-3 days).

This new IgG test quantitatively measures your IgG antibody levels against the spike receptor-binding domain (RBD) of SARS-CoV-2 whereas the older tests were measured against nucleoprotein. The spike protein in the main component associated with an immune system response of the body; it is the protein mimicked by immunisations to enable the body’s immune response. Therefore, the older tests which do not measure the spike protein cannot measure a vaccine response.

While research is ongoing, current evidence suggests a significant drop in the immune response after six months after infection. We do not yet know how long the immune response lasts post-vaccination and this is where the quantitative IgG test will be extremely useful. By undergoing a second test after several months, we will be able to see how the IgG levels have changed.

No. This test is best administered 15 days post-infection.

If you need a test for a current infection, we offer PCR test kits that allow you to take a sample at home and post it to our laboratory.