Justin Trudeau Is Going To Get A COVID-19 Antibody Test As Soon As It's Available

He's giving his blood, sweat, and tears, literally! Any COVID-19 antibody testing Canada does will include samples from the Prime Minister. Once it becomes available, he says he'll make sure he gets tested.

On May 26, during Justin Trudeau's daily press conference, Canada's antibody testing was brought up as it relates to him.

Trudeau was asked by a reporter about whether or not he plans to take a serological test when it becomes available because of his exposure to the virus.

His answer to the question was simple.

"Yes, I do,” Trudeau said.

He noted that as soon as those tests become widely available across the country to Canadians, he will make sure that he is among those who get tested.

"I think serological testing is an important part of understanding exactly how COVID-19 has been present in the country, including in people who haven't displayed any symptoms at all,” Trudeau said.

Health Canada authorized the country’s first serological test back on May 12. That will detect COVID-19 antibodies.

At least one million blood samples from Canadians will be collected over the next two years to be tested so that the virus can be tracked in the general population along with those who are at greater risk.

Based on what he said, Trudeau will be included in that.

The PM was likely exposed to COVID-19 by his wife Sophie Grégoire Trudeau when she got the virus back in March. Due to that, he isolated at Rideau Cottage and she quarantined.

Grégoire Trudeau fully recovered from the virus a couple of weeks after testing positive.

The testing of the collected samples will be done under the leadership of Canada’s COVID-19 Immunity Task Force.

Health Canada noted that serological tests that detect antibodies help give an understanding of if people who get the virus are immune to it.

The task force will try to answer questions about how many people had the virus beyond those who were tested and how long possibly immunity could last.

In another step to defeat the virus, Health Canada has approved the first Canadian clinical trials for a potential vaccine.

That will happen at the Canadian Centre for Vaccinology at Dalhousie University in Nova Scotia.

If the trials are successful, there would be work done to make sure that the COVID-19 vaccine can be produced and distributed here in Canada.