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Home > Biblio > Prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population in Belgium : Results of the second data collection (28/09/21-23/02/22)

Prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the general population in Belgium : Results of the second data collection (28/09/21-23/02/22)

Health and disease monitoring  
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Published

Sci. report, recommendat°, guidance doc., directive, monograph

English

SCIENSANO

Authors

Nayema Van den Houte [2]; V Leclercq [3]; Lydia Gisle [4]; Johan Van der Heyden [5]

Keywords

  1. antibodies [6]
  2. COVID-19 [7]
  3. health determinants [8]
  4. population-based [9]
  5. Seroprevalence [10]
Article written during project(s) : 
SalivaHIS Study on the prevalence of antibodies against the coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) in the Belgian population [11]

Abstract:

KEY FINDINGS Between the last period of wave 1 (14/06-11/07) and the first period of wave 2 (27/09-24/10) the percentage of adults (18 years or older) with anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies has increased from 69.5% to 90.4%. This substantial increase is in line with the intensive vaccination campaign during this time period. During the second period of wave 2 (25/10-21/11) the prevalence increased further to 92.9%. Among the fully vaccinated having received the last dose (eventually a booster) in the past 3 months (but more than 2 weeks ago), the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies wa…
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Abstract

KEY FINDINGS

  • Between the last period of wave 1 (14/06-11/07) and the first period of wave 2 (27/09-24/10) the percentage of adults (18 years or older) with anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies has increased from 69.5% to 90.4%. This substantial increase is in line with the intensive vaccination campaign during this time period. During the second period of wave 2 (25/10-21/11) the prevalence increased further to 92.9%.
  • Among the fully vaccinated having received the last dose (eventually a booster) in the past 3 months (but more than 2 weeks ago), the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies was 97.9% in the first period of wave 2 (27/09-24/10) and 99.1% in the second period (25/10-21/11). Among the fully vaccinated having received the last dose (eventually a booster) longer than 3 months ago, these percentages were respectively 93.8% and 95.7%
  • Among people who had not received any COVID-19 vaccine at all the prevalence of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies increased in wave 2 from 22.5% (27/09-24/10) to 36.5% (25/10-21/11). However, caution is needed to interpret these figures, because in wave 2 the number of unvaccinated people was quite low.
  • Most of those who had a negative test in wave 1 (87.8%) became positive in wave 2. This is mainly explained by the vaccination campaign: 94.8% of these people received a COVID-19 vaccine between their participation in wave 1 and wave 2. Only 9.7% of the unvaccinated people with a negative test in wave 1 became positive in wave 2.
  • In total, 3.1% of those who had anti-SARS-CoV-2-antibodies in wave 1 seroconverted in wave 2. Among the unvaccinated and the partially vaccinated people, the risk of becoming seronegative was 10 times higher than among the fully vaccinated.
  • Among the total study population, older age was associated with a higher risk of not having antibodies in wave 2.
  • Among the fully vaccinated, older people and people with at least one chronic disease were at higher risk of not carrying antibodies. The risk of being seronegative in wave 2 increased significantly as the number of days since the last vaccination advanced. Furthermore, having received at least one dose of mRNA vaccine compared to adenoviral-vectored vaccine reduced the risk of being seronegative by 90%.

Associated health topics:

Coronavirus [12]

Source URL:https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio/prevalence-anti-sars-cov-2-antibodies-general-population-belgium-results-second-data-collection-28

Links
[1] https://www.sciensano.be/sites/default/files/salivahis_report_w2_final2_v20220421.pdf [2] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bauthor%5D=181343&f%5Bsearch%5D=Nayema%20Van%20den%20Houte [3] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/victoria-leclercq/biblio [4] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/lydia-gisle/biblio [5] https://www.sciensano.be/en/people/johan-van-der-heyden/biblio [6] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=2034&f%5Bsearch%5D=antibodies [7] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=36336&f%5Bsearch%5D=COVID-19 [8] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=36825&f%5Bsearch%5D=health%20determinants [9] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=2778&f%5Bsearch%5D=population-based [10] https://www.sciensano.be/en/biblio?f%5Bkeyword%5D=399&f%5Bsearch%5D=Seroprevalence [11] https://www.sciensano.be/en/projects/study-prevalence-antibodies-against-coronavirus-sars-cov-2-belgian-population [12] https://www.sciensano.be/en/health-topics/coronavirus