In July 2023, we changed our name from AACC (short for the American Association for Clinical Chemistry) to the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (ADLM). The following page was written prior to this rebranding and contains mentions of the association’s old name.
The scientific community continues to devote great efforts to understanding all aspects of COVID-19, but key questions remain that still need to be answered. Among them are how long the currently available SARS-CoV-2 vaccines protect against the virus in a real-world setting; how do antibody levels compare to SARS-specific T-cell function post-vaccination, and in combination with prior infection; and what do antibody profiles tell us about functional immunity.
In order to gain further insight into this important issue, the Association for Diagnostics & Laboratory Medicine (formerly AACC) launched the COVID-19 Immunity Study to examine immune responses to SARS-CoV-2 vaccination in a large cohort of volunteers who are diverse in areas such as age, sex, race, ethnicity, vaccine regimens, and geography. We invited registrants and attendees of the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo to participate—and the laboratory medicine community answered the call.
Updates on the Study's Progress
The COVID-19 Immunity Study enrolled over 900 participants in the online survey portion, and 698 of those individuals donated blood on site at the 2021 AACC Annual Scientific Meeting & Clinical Lab Expo in Atlanta. Following this, sample sets were assembled and arrived at the testing sites in December. Donors will be contacted with select serology results once these results are generated and entered. Participants should watch for an email sometime in the coming weeks with instructions on how and when to access their results.
The study team is currently analyzing initial outcomes, including cohort demographics and results from the T-cell testing. The team plans to develop a series of manuscripts describing the study, the population, and the results. The goal is to submit for publication in the first half of 2022.