csdf

Who knows. But I'm hearing that quite a few people are seeing antibodies disappear after a few months.

UKMS

a proper antibody test doesn’t simply just give a single positive or negative it should give you the levels of 2 types of antibody ( indicating negative, borderline or positive for each ) ….. plus a simple positive or negative of third.

were you negative in all 3 ?

csdf

I was negative for all three tests, yes. For the spike protein antibody, where a negative is 12 AU/ml or less, I got 6. My wife got 75 in the same spike antibody test - I've heard of people getting up to 250 AU/ml from vaccine and even higher if they actually caught covid.

UKMS

blimey ….. like you say disappointing….. what vaccine did you have ?

Millhouse

I guess you were in the unlucky 97%

Looks Pfizer is going to start saying 3 shots soon, and annual boosters.

csdf

Sinopharm

scrubbedexpat141

I thought the annual booster was pretty much always going to be on the cards to be fair.

Maxima

Pfizer approved in Abu Dhabi

scrubbedexpat141

Got the second jab this week. Late night appointment, sub 7 mins from 'hello' to plaster-on.

carbolic

Noticing some media stories about certain classes of persons being exempted from the need to be vaccinated eg pregnant women.
The articles don't make it clear whether vaccine is mandatory, encouraged or what?
Interested to hear how it works on the ground.
Cases in UAE seem to be high but at least they're trending down.
Thanks
PS.. Got my first AZ yesterday and feeling fine

csdf

Those exemptions are primarily to clarify who is responsible for paying for periodic PCRs. Lots of people now have to test every two weeks if vaccinated (at their employer's cost) or every week if not vaccinated (at their own cost). The latest clarifications establish that people who are exempt from vaccination will not have to pay for their weekly PCR (but still have to do it).

carbolic

Thanks CDSF.
Is that the $US100 PCR test or one of the cheaper rapid tests?
If the former that's a "real" incentive to get the jab

UKMS

Restrictions have been eased a little in Dubai .... not surprisingly restrictions gradually being introduced to make life more difficult for those choosing not to vaccinate !

https://www.thenationalnews.com/uae/...-100-1.1224217

csdf

It's not $100, it's about $20 (65 AED). There are no rapid tests in use here except the DPI which is exclusively used to allow people to cross from Dubai to Abu Dhabi.

carbolic

Thanks csdf
That's much cheaper than most countries but it would still add up week on week not to mention the inconvenience

Research by UK consumer group Which? in April 2021 found that the average price of one PCR test was £120 in the UK
https://www.itij.com/latest/news/hig...ational-travel