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It was heralded as the “game-changer” that could end the UK lockdown – and in March, we were told antibody tests would be with us “within days”. Three months later, the majority of people in the UK haven’t been anywhere near one.

Antibody tests – also called serology tests – are designed to check if a person has detectable antibodies in their blood, which would indicate they’ve already had Covid-19. The tests are different from those being used around the world to see if someone has the actual virus in their system. 

The presence of antibodies in a person’s blood indicates that their immune system has cleared a virus. But in the case of Covid-19, we don’t know how long immunity from the virus lasts.

At the start of the pandemic, there was confusion over whether a person could get coronavirus more than once – or, if once you’d recovered and developed antibodies, you’d be safe for life. As research into this new virus continues, scientists have sadly not been able to confirm the latter.  

“The science regarding long term immunity from Covid-19 is still emerging and the implications of a positive antibody result are difficult to assess,” the government’s website now says. “A positive result may not mean a person is immune or if they demonstrate immunity now, how long this will last.”

So, what’s the point of the antibody tests? 

Originally, it was hoped antibody tests may help people get back to work without fear of infection. NHS workers, for example, could take the test to see if they’d already developed antibodies. There was also talk of “immunity passports” – however the World Health Organisation soon warned the accuracy of these tests couldn’t be guaranteed. 

Because of this, the government is now taking a more cautious approach over the antibody tests. Instead, its website states there’s currently “no strong evidence” that a person cannot contract Covid-19 again. 

“Therefore, the value of antibody tests is currently limited to answering the question of whether someone has had the virus or not, and providing data and a greater understanding on the spread of the virus,” the government website says.

A high percentage of the population is thought to have had Covid-19 without symptoms. Therefore antibody testing is not entirely pointless, as it’ll provide scientists with a higher volume of infection data to work with. On a personal level though, having a test won’t change your life much – you’ll still need to follow social distancing rules. 

Who can currently get free antibody testing? 

All NHS and care staff in England are being offered an antibody test, the Department of Health and Social Care confirmed to HuffPost UK. Some NHS patients and members of the public who participate in surveillance studies are also receiving the tests. These tests, approved by Public Health England, involve a healthcare practitioner taking blood from a vein, rather than a finger prick test. They’ve been shown as an accurate indicator of whether or not someone has had Covid-19, but again, they don’t show immunity. 

A spokesperson said the roll-out of these tests will be expanded to other essential workers “in due course” to help scientists better understand how coronavirus is spreading across the country. 

The government is also working to develop “scalable solutions” for at-home antibody testing, they added, saying: “An unreliable test is worse than no test.”

What’s happening with tests in pharmacies? 

Superdrug made headlines as the first pharmacy offering at-home antibody tests, when it began selling them for £69 on May 20. Other major pharmacies, including Lloyd’s Pharmacy, launched similar services. These tests instructed customers to take their own blood sample via a finger prick at home, then seal it and send it to a lab for testing. 

However, just nine days after the first at-home test launched, the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) asked providers of the finger prick antibody test to temporarily stop providing this service. The regulators said they needed to ensure the finger prick at-home tests could produce results as accurate as when blood is taken directly from a vein by a healthcare practitioner.

“People who have purchased one of these sampling kits, and received an antibody test result, should not consider the result to be reliable and should not take any action based on it,” Graeme Tunbridge, MHRA interim director of devices, said in a statement. 

Pharmacies including Superdrug are currently working with the MHRA to “validate this claim and resume testing”.

“Our fully accredited partner laboratory that is responsible for testing all blood samples from Superdrug Online Doctor has informed us that there is no real statistical difference between these two different types of testing methods,” Superdrug said in a statement. “To this effect, they completely stand by the accuracy and reliability of the results from these antibody tests.”

Superdrug told HuffPost UK it has “no fixed date” on when selling can resume.  “The regulators need to accept the evidence that we are providing to them regarding the reliability of the service and that they will then enable us to resume a safe, reliable and effective service very soon,” a spokesperson said.