Covid-19 - Ultimate Cure?

The idea that those who have had COVID-19 will, indeed, be immune to the virus is fraught with scientific, ethical and legal issues

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Immunity offers hope and reassurance. So, governments worldwide are desperate to identify those who have recovered and developed antibodies against sars-Nov-2. Some say this could serve as the basis for an “immunity passport” that would enable individuals to travel or to return to work assuming that they are protected against reinfection. Chile is poised to become the first country to provide such certificates to recovered covid-19 patients, which will be valid for three months.

In March, Germany tested its population for immunity against COVID-19 using the rapid test kit. In Gangelt municipality, 14 per cent of the 500 people tested were found to have antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Swab tests showed 2 per cent were sick. Based on the findings, Germany planned to conduct serological tests across the country to issue immunity certificates so that people could resume work. But on May 5, it decided not to go ahead unless the study is cleared by its ethics council.

Alexandra L Phelan, professor at the microbiology and immunology department and an adjunct professor of law at the Georgetown University Law Center, the US, wrote in The Lancet on May 4 that the potential discriminatory consequences of immunity passports might not be expressly addressed by existing legal regimes, because immunity from disease (or lack thereof) as health status is a novel concept for legal protections. In their column in