Chennai: At least 87% of people in Tamil Nadu carry antibodies to SARS-COV-2, in accordance with the results of the serosurvey phase conducted by the Directorate of Public Health in the last week of December 2021.
Antibodies produced protective proteins by the immune system in response to viruses.
They recognize and lock the virus to remove it from the body.
Of the 32,245 people tested for antibodies of the virus from all states, 28,071 individuals have protective antibody levels – increased by 17% from 70% in August 2021.
This means, at least 87% of people have protectors cover Covid-19 well through Vaccination or natural infection.
The study also found that nearly 68% of survey participants – aged between 11 and 18 years were not vaccinated during the survey – had an antibody level detected, the Director of Public Health Dr.
TS Selvavinayagam.
“These people have gained antibodies to natural infections,” he said.
The highest prevalence is in the age group 18-44 (89.5%) followed by the age group of 45-59 years (88.6%) and in people over 60 years, the prevalence was 84.5%.
More than anything, health officials say they now have evidence to show how vaccination helps.
Of the total number of people surveyed, 27,324 (85%) were vaccinated.
Nine of the 10 vaccinated people have an antibody level detected, but among 4,921 people who are not vaccinated only 69% of them carry antibodies.
“Vaccination offers an antibody antibody anti-sarscov-2 detected compared to those who are not vaccinated,” Dr.
Selvavygam said.
“We see high care, complications, and death among people who are not vaccinated, especially among parents and people with comorbid conditions such as diabetes and uncontrolled hypertension,” he said.
The survey, however, does not include reinfection because it has been done before the third wave of Omicron fuel, he said.
But research among those who were hospitalized showed that a large number of them were both not vaccinated or had serious complications.
Cross-sectional surveys are carried out on individuals aged over 10 years in 1,076 clusters scattered in all district of Tamil Nadu.
Each cluster consists of 30 participants drawn randomly from urban or rural areas.
Health workers draw 5 ml of venous blood collected in gel tubes.
They were sent to the three referral laboratories – the state health laboratory in Chennai, Salem and Coimbatore in the cold chain for testing.
Among the districts, almost 93% of people in Tiruvarur and 92% of people in tactation carry antibodies.
Seven other districts – Perambal, Madurai, Sivaganga, Kanyakumari, Virudhunagar, Cuddalore, and Nagapattinam – have antibodies above 90%, while Tirupathur (82%) and Kancheepuram (83%) have the least.
While Madurai has a 91% seropositivity, Chennai reported 88% positive and Coimbatore reported 85%.