Extracted from this full Unherd Interview: (~6:15-7:30)
Transcript
Dr. Gupta: “Some people may not actually produce these (SARS-Cov2) antibodies. We certainly know of cases where people have tested positive (on viral antigen tests) who don’t evince an antibody response, or one that’s detectable. And there are various reasons for this. One is that if they’re lucky enough they may be able to deal with the virus at a more basic fundamental level with our (their) innate immune responses. We may also be able to fend off the virus with pre-existing responses against other (likely human, common cold-causing) coronaviruses, which I think is very likely to play a role in protection, particularly against severity of disease and death. So while the antibody tests give us an indication of how many people have been exposed, they may not tell the whole story.”
Interviewer: “So while the number of cases (of infection with Covid-19) comes out of an antibody test”
Dr. Gupta: “That’s a very good way of putting it.”
