WHO warns against the idea of immunity passports

The World Health Organization on Saturday (April 25) cautioned against the idea of immunity passports and said there was no evidence that people who had recovered from COVID-19 had antibodies to protect them against a second infection.

The concept of immunity passports or risk-free certificates has been floated as a way of allowing people protected against reinfection to return to work. However, the WHO said more research was needed.

It said that at this point in the pandemic, there is not enough evidence about the effectiveness of antibody-mediated immunity to guarantee the accuracy of an immunity passport or risk-free certificate.

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The WHO argued that people who assume they are immune to reinfection may ignore public health advice, and such certificates could raise the risks of continued virus transmission.

It added that tests for antibodies of the new coronavirus also need further validation to determine their accuracy and reliability.