Chulalongkorn University’s Faculty of Medicine will hold a free Covid-19 antibody checkup for 500 volunteers who contracted the disease over the past six months.
Virologist Dr Yong Poovorawan, head of the Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology at Chulalongkorn University, said yesterday that the free programme is aimed at collecting data to assist vaccine development in the future.
He added that while the disease may potentially become seasonal, even those who have received at least two doses of the vaccine will see their antibody levels decrease as time passes, with new sub-variants expected to emerge along the way.
Dr Yong said that the optimum regimen for testing immunity and administering boosters for that six-month follow-up might result in a positive result, but this could help the physician plan the treatment.
All those interested in taking part should have a history of catching Covid-19 or have been vaccinated in the past six months.
They can come to the faculty’s Centre of Excellence in Clinical Virology, where they will be required to fill out an appointment form. After the checkup is finished, participants are expected to receive the results through email within two weeks, said Dr Yong.
Meanwhile, there were 168 cases of people being hospitalised in the country last week (April 2–8), including two deaths, according to the Covid-19 Information Centre.
This means that 24 cases per day were reported last week. The number was similar to the week of March 26 to April 1, which saw 167 new Covid cases and three deaths. So far this year, there have been 5,048 reported cases resulting in 271 fatalities.