The World Health Organization (WHO) warns urgently against so-called immunity certificates, which governments of some countries are considering issuing to people who have survived a Sars-CoV-2 infection. According to the WHO, such „certificates of immunity“ are a completely wrong signal in the fight against the pandemic, because so far nobody can prove that antibodies formed after the initial infection have actually led to immunity and provide protection against a second infection. It could even be that „certificates of immunity“ could lead to the spread of the novel virus being encouraged again. Distribution of such immunity certificates by some governments would take place afterwards, when testing is followed by the detection of antibodies, which according to the WHO is a fallacy, as these people who have undergone infection may not be immune to the second wave of COVID 19 disease at all. There are six different corona viruses that produce antibodies after infection, explains the WHO. Two of the viral strains are not very common and cause respiratory tract infections SARS and MERS, four are common and cause a slight cough. However, the current serological tests that have reached market maturity are still far too imprecise and unreliable to identify antibodies of the novel virus from antibodies of the long-existing virus strains, warns the WHO in a press release. It is also possible that antibodies of the six virus strains will interact with antibodies after infection with the Sars-CoV-2 virus. Serological tests that can differentiate this must, therefore „undergo additional clearance“ and be given, which has not been done to date. There is also a lack of scientific evidence for the assumption of immunity.
