Spain develops new test for measuring protection duration of Covid vaccination

Spain develops new test for measuring protection duration of Covid vaccination Credit: Creative Commons

The new Covid vaccination protection duration test was developed by Spain’s National Microbiology Centre of the Institute of Health of Carlos III (ISCIII), together with scientists from Mount Sinai Hospital in New York and Duke Medical School in Singapore.

The new test to measure the duration of protection from the Covid vaccination measures cell-specific immunity to SARS-CoV-2 infection and was officially published in Nature Biotechnology journal on Monday, June 13.

According to the ISCIII the test works by “using massive sequencing techniques in people vaccinated and infected with SARS-CoV-2 to identify the CXCL10 molecule as a new biomarker of cellular immunity.”

“Using the polymerase chain reaction (PCR) technique, the study demonstrates the ability to measure the cellular response quickly, easily and inexpensively from a large number of samples.”

Jordi Ochando, a scientist at the ISCIII’s National Microbiology Centre and one of the authors of the study, explained that the technology “makes it possible to analyse hundreds of samples a day because it is based on PCR technology.”

“In addition, the equipment to perform PCR is available in most hospitals and research centres, making this technology accessible to the general population. ”

“Because of its effectiveness in measuring both the functioning of our defences against the virus and the duration of vaccine protection, the data obtained are important for the determination of herd immunity and the design of vaccination campaigns,” he added.


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Written by

Joshua Manning

Originally from the UK, Joshua is based on the Costa Blanca and is a web reporter for the Euro Weekly News covering international and Spanish national news. Got a news story you want to share? Then get in touch at editorial@euroweeklynews.com.

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