More than a million unvaccinated Slovaks do not have antibodies against covid – TVNOVINY.sk

More than half of people not vaccinated against COVID-19 are not protected by antibodies. It follows from a study that realized in several localities in Slovakia with almost 4,000 participants over the age of 12.

At the same time, half of the people who had antibodies had only low values. The epidemiologist Alexandra Bražinová informed together with the representatives of the institutions who participated in the study.

At the same time, it is known that a total of about a million people in the vaccine or overcoming the disease protected in Slovakia are not antibodies, said Matej Mišík, an analyst at the Institute of Health Analyzes at the Ministry of Health.

Antibodies are declining rapidly

Experts have repeatedly pointed out that the mere presence of antibodies does not indicate how much a person is protected. In time, their decline occurs and the new omicron variant is also a risk.

A study in Bratislava revealed the highest immunity of people over the age of 60, 85 percent. Experts are urging people to be vaccinated against coronavirus, which is the only way to protect themselves.

The samples were collected by scientists in November and December in the cities of Bratislava, Košice and in the districts of Čadca, Považská Bystrica, Komárno, Kežmarok and Lučenec. Participation was voluntary. Antibodies were evaluated from blood drops. People with a value above 1.1 have a positive presence of antibodies, above 3.5 it is a high value. Data on overcoming COVID-19 were also collected.

“The level of antibodies was around 50 percent as the districts went through the peak of their delta wave. This means that the wave reached only about half of the population that was not vaccinated, “explained mathematician Richard Kollár. However, he noted that the decrease in antibodies occurs relatively quickly and that low antibody levels may not be sufficient with the omicron variant.

Asymptomatic with fewer antibodies

According to Mišík, people (44 percent) who overcame COVID-19 disease with a symptomatic course had a medium or high value of antibodies. “There are a large number of people who do not have protection against COVID-19 either in the form of a vaccine or in the form of overcoming the disease,” he said. In asymptomatic patients, a third had no antibodies.

Juraj Kopáček, Scientific Director of the Institute of Virology of the Biomedical Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences (SAS), also pointed out that the presence of antibodies does not mean protection against the disease. “Antibodies are just one part of immunity. They are declining over time, “he said.

Bražinová perceives the individual benefit of the study, as individuals obtained data on their antibody value. At the same time, the presence of antibodies in the given locality was managed to be mapped. Kopáček also welcomes the merging of institutions and the creation of logistics for the entire process.

The study was carried out under the auspices of the Ministry of Health of the Slovak Republic, samples were collected by the Medical Faculty of Comenius University (UK) in Bratislava and Pavel Jozef Šafárik in Košice, diagnosed by the Biomedical Center of the Slovak Academy of Sciences.