Sanquin blood bank is looking for more blood plasma from donors who have had the coronavirus. This can be used to develop a preventative that can protect vulnerable people against corona.
The blood bank did before a call to ex-covid-19 patients to report, but it still takes 8,000 people. You can register via the website.
“We concentrate the antibodies from the blood plasma of people who have experienced corona,” says lead researcher Hans Zaaijer in the NOS Radio 1 News after a message The Telegraph. “We know from experience that if you apply that concentrate beforehand, or at a very early stage of the disease, it often works better than if someone is really sick.”
“The drug resembles the effect of a vaccine,” says Zaaijer. “The difference is that a vaccine can protect for years, and only for a few months.”
Sanquin is optimistic about the method. The blood bank has been ordered by the Ministry of Health to collect 30,000 kilos of blood plasma with antibodies. There is now enough material to meet ten percent of that. Half of the number of necessary donors also registered.
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