Although plasma therapy is effective on some severe patients, it doesn't mean that it can be adopted as a preventative measure for healthy people to gain immunity, said Wu Yuzhang, director of the Institute of Immunology of the People's Liberation Army.
Since the novel coronavirus is mainly transmitted through the respiratory tract, antibodies should be deployed on the respiratory mucous membrane to keep the virus from infecting cells. There is no evidence that the plasma from a recovered patient has such an effect, he said.
Also, the plasma from the recovered patients contains not only antibodies that are effective against the novel coronavirus, but also other types of antibodies, cytokines and plasma proteins, which may cause allergies and autoimmune diseases.
For the general public, preventive precautions such as wearing masks and keeping a safe distance from others are better ways to prevent ourselves from getting the virus.
This article originally appeared on the China Daily website.