AACC Launches COVID-19 Immunity Study at 2021 Annual Scientific Meeting and Clinical Lab Expo

By LabMedica International staff writers
Posted on 31 Aug 2021

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The American Association for Clinical Chemistry (AACC; Washington, DC, USA) is launching the COVID-19 Immunity Study, which will examine immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination or prior infection in a diverse group of volunteers.

Despite continued efforts by the scientific community to understand all aspects of COVID-19, it is still not known how long the currently available SARS-CoV-2 vaccines can provide protection against the SARS-CoV-2 virus. In order to gain further insights into this issue, AACC’s study will also further examine the utility of serologic tests as a means to measure lasting immunity.

AACC will collect blood samples for the planned study from attendees and exhibitors at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo to be held in Atlanta on September 28-30. All study participants must be 18 years of age and efforts will be made to ensure that the research cohort is as diverse as possible. This approach to sample collection is modeled after AACC’s Universal Sample Bank program, which used samples from attendees of the 2015 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting in support of important research related to troponin. People who are unable to attend the meeting in person can also contribute to the study by submitting answers to a 10-minute COVID-19 health questionnaire. In return for donating blood, the study participants will receive the results of their individual antibody profile tests after all the collected samples have been analyzed.

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