Tainan Resident Accidentally Bought an Antibody Test Kit from Pharmacy 民眾藥局買快篩試劑 發現須抽血送驗

People should be aware that antigen rapid test kits are different from antibody screening tests. Before you buy it please carefully check. Meanwhile, New Taipei City busted one man selling fake yellow vaccination cards online.

Rapid antigen test kit supplies are currently running low in Taiwan with everyone buying and stocking up as the number of COVID-19 cases continues to surge. One Tainan resident recently complained online about having bought a pack of test kits from a local pharmacy but found out later after opening it that it was an antibody test kit instead.

Fei Wei-ling, Food and Drug Admin. Chief, Public Health Bureau, Tainan: “Test kits that are available in the market right now are rapid antigen test kits that have been approved by the Ministry of Health and Welfare. Antibody tests, on the other hand, need to be administered by professionals at proper laboratories instead.”

What the person had bought was an antibody test kit, which is a blood test to check if an individual has had coronavirus before or been vaccinated. That is different from the rapid antigen tests that people are more familiar with, which detect the presence of a specific viral antigen, indicating current viral infection.

Fei Wei-ling, Food and Drug Admin. Chief, Public Health Bureau, Tainan: “People need to do blood tests to test for antibodies whereas antigen tests are performed by nasal swabs for specimens.”

pharmacy owner: “Test kits arrived late Friday night. We opened the box in the morning when we opened for business and customers came and bought them immediately. We looked at it carefully afterwards and realized that there was something wrong. Local health officials came later to check on us and I have to say that we weren't planning on selling them. We are planning on donating them to the hospital.”

The pharmacy owner stressed that they didn't mean to misguide customers on purpose and will send them back to the manufacturer. Tainan Public Health Bureau decided to let the pharmacy go this time but gave a warning saying that no pharmacies are allowed to sell antibody test kits as rapid antigen test kits.

Meanwhile, New Taipei City police traced one man surnamed Cheng selling yellow vaccination cards online with hospital stamps and signatures of having all three shots. Buyers just need to fill in their own names and ID numbers on top. Cheng was arrested on the night of the 24th. Police warned that individuals can be fined up to NT$ 15,000 for violating the Disease Control Act by selling fake vaccination cards. 

隨著國內疫情確診數不斷飆升，民眾搶買快篩試劑的情況也越來越明顯。不過有民眾到台南一間藥局發現有試劑，就趕緊買了回家，但拆開一看，卻是必須抽血還得送驗，根本不是快篩，在網路上抱怨上當。

台南市衛生局食藥科長費偉鈴解釋：「坊間現在衛服部核准的可以在家裡面使用的試劑，就是家用抗原快篩試劑，那抗體的快篩試劑，它是需要透過專業人士，跟相關合法的檢驗室的設備去做一個檢測。」

原來民眾買到的是抗體快篩，不是一般家用的抗原快篩，一種是檢驗抗體，一種是檢查病毒抗原，兩種快篩根本不一樣。

台南市衛生局食藥科長費偉鈴說明：「那抗體部分的檢測，還是要透過抽血的方式，家用快篩試劑的部分，就是伸到我們的鼻腔的底部，去做一個黏液的採取。」

藥局業者回應：「禮拜五半夜凌晨到禮拜六一打開，早上一來就打開了嘛，早上一到就有人買，結果我們一看真的不太對喔，所以衛生局來的時候，我講說我們也沒在賣，而且那個東西原本打算拿錯，如果不能退的話就捐給醫院。」

業者強調沒有刻意誤導，進錯的商品已經下架打算退回給廠商，而南市衛生局則說，雖然業者並無違規，但也口頭警告，不可以拿抗體試劑當家用型快篩來販售。

另外，近期也因為有許多場所都要求必須施打3劑疫苗才能進入，網路上拍賣網站竟出現販售Covid-19疫苗接種紀錄卡，新北刑大立即查出帳號身分，24日晚間逮捕了鄭姓嫌犯。警方呼籲買家如果使用偽造的紀錄卡，依違反傳染病防治法第70條，最高得處以1萬5000元罰鍰。