What is a Covid immunity test?

A Covid immunity test is a scientific process which can determine whether your body has Covid-specific antibodies to help fight off a future infection.

When your body is exposed to a pathogen – either through natural infection or a vaccine – it will produce antibodies to fight it off. Some of these antibodies remain in your system, ready to respond if you come across the virus again.

High levels of antibodies indicate that your immune system is well prepared to defend your body from an illness, whereas lower amounts may mean you are susceptible to catching it again. It is important to note that no scientific test can guarantee you have complete immunity to Covid-19, but high numbers of antibodies will give your body a good chance of being able to fight it off successfully.

AlphaBiolabs offers two types of antibody and immunity tests.

The rapid antibody test is for business and professional use only and can tell you within 10 minutes whether Covid-specific antibodies were detected in the blood sample.

The more advanced laboratory antibody test can be used by anyone and will also tell you whether you have a low, medium or high level of antibodies.

How does the rapid antibody test work?

Our Covid-19 S1-Nab immunity test uses a lateral flow device to give accurate results within 10 minutes.

Using the sterile lancet included in the kit, you will collect a small sample of blood from the fingertip and then add it to the testing device with two drops of the buffer solution. The device is then left for 10 minutes and will display the result in a similar way to a pregnancy test or lateral flow Covid antigen test.

If the test hasn’t worked for whatever reason, it will display a single blue control line and this means the result is invalid. If the test has been performed correctly, the blue control line will turn red.

If the device only shows one red control line, this means that no Covid-specific antibodies were found in the blood sample. If there are two red lines, this means that antibodies were detected.

How does the advanced lab antibody test work?

For more detailed results, we would recommend taking our more advanced, laboratory Covid-19 antibody and immunity test.

This also involves collecting a small amount of blood using a finger-prick test, but instead of adding this to a lateral flow device, you will send it to our award-winning UK-accredited laboratory for in-depth analysis using the pre-paid envelope included in your testing kit.

Our scientists will examine your blood for the presence of antibodies and determine the level at which they occur, giving a numeric value on the antibody concentration scale. You will receive your results via a confidential email within three days of your sample being received by our team.

If no antibodies were found, your results will tell you they were undetected. If you do have Covid-specific antibodies, you will be told how many there were ranging from very low (0.25) to very high (1.5+).

Order your Covid immunity test online

Both types of Covid immunity test are available to order from our website now:

• Rapid antibody test (for business and professional use only)
• Advanced laboratory test