A student gets vaccinated against COVID-19. Children under 12 years old have lower antibodies than other groups due to low vaccine coverage. (Photo: VNA)Of that, the proportion of people with natural COVID antibodies has reachedmore than 88%.
The department has published the data in its study on communityimmunity jointly conducted by HCM City’s Centre for Disease Control, theHCM City Hospital for Tropical Diseases and the Oxford University ClinicalResearch Unit in September 2022.
The research team conducted the study on 839 people from new-born to those over70 years old of both genders and living in different areas in the city.
The team collected and analysed blood samples to measure the proportion ofanti-nucleocapsid antibodies, which developed in people with prior infectionwith SARS-CoV-2, and anti-spike protein antibodies of those who have beeninfected with the virus or got vaccinated.
The results showed that 88.2% of the total samples now have antibodies frompast COVID infections and up to 98.7% have antibodies after being fullyvaccinated or infected with the virus.
In particular, the positive rate of natural antibodies in different age groupsis quite similar, ranging from 86% to 97% in age groups from under five to 70years old. The rate for those more than 70 years old is 76%.
The research team concluded that the high rate of people in HCM City withantibodies to COVID-19 has formed after the re-opening of schools and the surgeof the Omicron variant infection in early March.
The high percentage of people with antibodies has indicated the coverage of thevaccine as well as the role of natural infection in creating antibodies againstSARS-CoV-2 in the community.
Only a very small percentage (1.3%) of the population does not have anti-spikeprotein antibodies, but this does not mean they are not protected againstSARS-CoV-2 because this study does not assess the cellular immune response.
The group of children under 12 years old has lower anti-spike proteinantibodies than other groups, which is consistent with the fact that vaccinecoverage in this group is lower than in other groups.
However, the threshold of positive antibody concentration to ensure protectionagainst the Omicron variant has remained unknown.
Currently, scientists around the world are still studying the issue.
The city’s Department of Health has cautioned that vaccination is the safestmethod to protect people’s health against the virus and maintain communityimmunity. It has encouraged people to take children between 5 and 11 years oldto get vaccinated./.
VNA
