(Bloomberg) --
The U.K. will this week begin offering Covid-19 antibody testing to the general public for the first time, in order to better understand how many vaccinated and previously infected people are still catching the disease.
The kits will be made available to adults who book and return a positive Covid-19 test via the national test and trace app. The data may also reveal groups of people who don't develop an immune response and provide insight into the effectiveness of vaccines against different virus variants.
There's growing anecdotal evidence that fully vaccinated people are catching the virus, but few formal studies on these breakthrough infections.
Read more: Science Can't Keep Up With Virus, Creating Worry for Vaccinated
Assessing how vulnerable vaccinated people are will help inform decisions about future treatments and when to administer booster shots.
The program will run in Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland, as well as England, drawing from app users that have opted in when they book tests.
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