‘Immunity passports’ would give a false sense of security and may even lead to people deliberately becoming infected with coronavirus, warn Melbourne immunologists.

The problem is that current testing doesn’t discriminate between general antibodies and those that actually neutralise or block the function of the virus, they say.

“It could give a false sense of protection on a large scale if people were given these passports, thinking they were immune … It doesn’t really tell you that they are protected,” Professor Stuart Tangye, from the Garvan Institute of Medical Research, told a media briefing on Wednesday.

“It’s not really a means of enabling people to wantonly go travelling without appropriate precautions and awareness.”