National COVID Cancer antibody survey - if you are living with cancer, can you help?
The NHS has launched a national COVID Cancer antibody survey for individuals living with cancer and is calling on cancer patients to sign up now.
You can sign up here: https://covidcancersurvey.uk/
Vaccination is an important strategy to protect society from the effects of COVID-19. There is emerging evidence that a small number of cancer patients may have lower levels of antibody response than the general population. We don’t yet fully understand what lower levels of antibodies mean in terms of outcomes, but it may mean some people with cancer are not as protected from COVID-19.
By signing up for this survey, you can help to develop our understanding of what antibody levels mean for people with cancer and help us to provide the best treatment, care and support for patients, as well as finding out about your own antibody responses. It will also help us understand whether and how antibody response differs between different cancer types and whether any particular treatments affect response to vaccination.
The survey is open to people aged 18 or over living in England who have either been diagnosed with cancer in the last year or are currently receiving cancer treatment. You can take part if you are not on anticoagulants like warfarin/heparin. Participants will be sent a finger-prick blood test that looks for antibodies against COVID-19 in the blood. It will be sent in the post and comes with everything needed to complete and return the test.
You’ll fill in a short form with your details before being automatically redirected through to the NHS Test & Trace antibody test booking page where you’ll be able to book your free test. There are 10,000 places on this survey and the NHS expects to be recruiting participants for the next two to three months.
You need to visit https://covidcancersurvey.uk/ to sign up to the survey before ordering your antibody test.
For more information, please use the ‘contact us’ section of the survey website: https://covidcancersurvey.uk/contact/