(WWJ) -- Are you planning to get vaccinated and interested in monitoring your immunity to COVID-19?
Beaumont Health has launched a research study to do just that, allowing participants to track the status of their immunity to the coronavirus over the next two years after receiving the shot.
The study has been dubbed "COVID-19 Vaccination Elicited Response" — or "COVER" — and is designed to better understand how a person develops vaccine-induced COVID-19 antibodies, and how long they last.
More specifically, researchers are interested in the response in people who are immune-compromised, such as transplant patients or those who take immunosuppressive drugs for autoimmune conditions.
"The more people know about their vaccine response, the better they're able to protect themselves from COVID-19," said the study's principal investigator and immunologist, Gabriel Maine, Ph.D., at Beaumont Health. "We're particularly interested in people who are immune-compromised because they are some of the most vulnerable when it comes to the potentially devastating effects of COVID-19."
Those interested in participating in the "COVER" study would be compensated for their time and travel.
The study is open to the first 1,000 people ages 18 or older to apply: 500 who are immune-compromised and 500 people who are not immune-compromised and just wish to monitor their antibody levels.
Participants must be within 30 days of receiving their first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, or have plans to get the shot within seven days of enrolling in the study.
So what do you have to do?
During the course of the two-year study, participants must make seven or eight visits to a Beaumont location in either Royal Oak or Troy to have their blood drawn. This will take place approximately every 3 months during the first year, and at 18 and 24 months in the second year.
Participants will also have the opportunity to follow their antibody response to COVID-19 vaccination, which will be shared directly through their myBeaumontChart account.
"Participants will be able understand how their immune system responded to vaccination, and how long those antibodies are sustained over a 2-year follow-up period," said Dr. Maine. "This study will help further understand the short and long-term benefits of COVID-19 vaccination, along with any potential limitations. We just need people to take that first step and volunteer."
For more information on the study, or to volunteer, visit the COVID-19 Vaccination Elicited Response Study
