A U.S. National Institutes of Health panel said there’s no evidence backing the use of convalescent plasma to treat coronavirus patients and that doctors should not treat it as a standard of care until more study has been done.

“There are insufficient data to recommend either for or against the use of convalescent plasma for the treatment of COVID-19,” the panel of more than three dozen experts said in a statement posted on the NIH website Tuesday. The statement contradicts the Trump Administration’s characterization of the treatment as “historic” and a “major advance” and refers to last week’s emergency use authorization by the FDA.

“The long-term risks of treatment with COVID-19 convalescent plasma and whether its use attenuates the immune response to SARS-CoV-2, making patients more susceptible to reinfection, have not been evaluated,” the statement added.(SD-Agencies)