Deployment of convalescent plasma for the prevention and treatment of COVID-19

Passive antibody therapy has been in use for over a century The active agents are antibodies against the target pathogen of interest. Today, passive antibody therapy relies primarily on pooled immunoglobulin preparations that contain high concentrations of antibodies. In contrast, plasma has been used emergently in epidemics where there is insufficient time or resources to generate immunoglobulin preparations. There are multiple examples, both historical and recent, in which convalescent plasma was employed successfully as postexposure prophylaxis (e.g., hepatitis, mumps, Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), the cause of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), has spurred a global health…