More than two-thirds of the world’s population probably has a significant amount of antibodies to Covid-19. They have either been vaccinated or have been infected. So says the World Health Organization (WHO).
The so-called seroprevalence rose to 67 percent in October. In February 2021, it was still 16 percent, says the WHO, which brought together several international studies. Due to the advance of the more contagious omikron variant, those figures are probably even higher.
The WHO overview is a snapshot of the growing resistance the world has built to the pandemic. Even though vaccines only provide limited protection against infection with omikron, the WHO still recommends boosting vaccination coverage. This is especially useful for vulnerable groups, because vaccination protects better against serious illness than a previous infection.
Best protection
Most studies show that people who have already been infected and who have been vaccinated have the best protection against serious illness. It is unclear whether this also applies to new variants.
The data show that seroprevalence is lower in children under nine years of age and in adults over 60 years of age, compared to people in their twenties, the WHO says. In low-wage and middle-income countries, seroprevalence more often points to previous infections.
In general, the number of antibodies decreases with time. According to the WHO, several factors play a role in this and future studies should show how quickly the protection decreases.
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