With the clear lessons from the recent Covid PCR testing
capacity findings still fresh in the air it seems completely
at odds not to have a quick efficient truly national Covid
serology surveillance rollout underway by now. As medical
laboratory scientists who deal with real time stresses with
the current wave, the New Zealand Institute of Medical
Laboratory Science (NZIMLS) is asking what are we waiting
for to be rolling out a national coordinated serology
assessment in Aotearoa New Zealand?
“The accelerated
move to a genuine national approach utilising the full
potential serology testing capacity of every NZ laboratory
provider capable of this testing should have been well and
truly instigated by now” says Terry Taylor, President of
the NZIMLS.
One of the main recommendations to come
out of the Covid PCR testing review was that a national
expert coordinated approach was needed to override the
competitive and logistical barriers that the current
diagnostic laboratory system has. Antibodies for Covid
nucleocapsid components indicate a recent actual infection
and can assist in showing the difference between vaccination
and past infection. The problem is that nucleocapsid
antibodies have a finite time when they can be detected.
Every month that goes by is a month that we are missing the
prevalence of older infections that asymptomatic people may
have had that haven’t been documented. It is frustrating
that unnecessary delays are once again holding back our
response capability and knowledge base due to logistical and
leadership constraints.
“One of main aims of the new
National Public Health Agency is to have a real time
nationally controlled pandemic and surveillance approach for
situations like covid serology assessment rollouts. This
current situation clearly highlights once again the need for
expert specialist medical scientists to be in national
positions within Te Whatu Ora and the agency with genuine
authority to ensure all diagnostic laboratories are working
in a coherent coordinated manner to benefit our pandemic and
any future health responses”, says Taylor.
With Te
Whatu Ora and the National Public Health Agency in the very
early developmental stages and the transferring of pandemic
operational functions from the MOH happening at the same
time it is unfortunate that the covid serology surveillance
rollout has been caught in the middle. This situation
totally reinforces the need for national direction of all
current stakeholders and the future research and diagnostic
laboratory approaches needed for swift and effective health
responses.
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