The lack of antibody testing is a missing key for vaccinations

It’s easy to mock the anti-vaxxers.

They claimed they wanted FDA approval before they were going to take the vaccine. Well, it’s here, and I am still hearing about how that isn’t enough.

I, as a talk show host, have heard it all.

Hydroxychloroquine, Ivermectin or the vaccine?

Which vaccine? Pfzier? Moderna, Johnson & Johnson?

The answer is the vaccine. Period.

According to the ADPH:

90% of coronavirus cases were unvaccinated.
84% of people hospitalized were unvaccinated.
95% of those who died from the virus were also unvaccinated.

But the one argument that I hear regularly on my two radio shows is that people with previous COIVD-19 infections are immune.

But are they?

We are talking about natural immunity.

Now, most of the people making this argument are doing so in bad faith. They haven’t been infected yet, they don’t have the immunity, and they don’t have natural immunity.

But what if we offered to prove this?

We have anti-body testing available, but why don’t we offer it?

Show people that they don’t have the antibody, Maybe they will get vaccinated.

If they do have the antibodies? Great. Come back in a few months and get checked again.

Before I received the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, I was regularly giving blood at the Red Cross offices to get my antibodies tested. Luckily, I never had any.

But they stopped that.

LifesSouth is providing antibody testing to all eligible blood donors across the state.

But maybe the Alabama Department of Public Health should start pushing people who think they are immune to get tested and show them, and the ADPH, where we actually stand.

Show people they aren’t immune, and maybe they will get vaccinated.

You can’t do anything about those who are operating in bad faith. They are going to get the virus.

It’s their body, their choice, and at this point, we have the medical ability to minimize death and destruction while we get back to normal.

If they refuse to take precaution, that is on them. To loosely paraphrase Ivan Drago — If they catch coronavirus, they catch coronavirus.

We need to arm people with the information they need and trust some of them to do the right thing.

Anti-body testing could give us a more accurate look at where we are and who needs the vaccine.

Dale Jackson is a contributing writer to Yellowhammer News and hosts a talk show from 5-9AM weekdays on WVNN and on Talk 99.5 from 10AM to noon.