Majority of Mumbai children have antibodies: Sero survey

A paediatric serosurvey conducted by the Mumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) has shown that 51.18 per cent of children between 1 and 18 years in Mumbai have developed antibodies against the Covid virus, raising hopes of protection from a possible third wave feared to be detrimental to children. The survey was conducted in all 24 civic wards of the city between April 1 and June 15 by BYL Nair Hospital and Kasturba Molecular Laboratory. In all, 2,176 blood samples were collected from pathology labs that included 893 from two private labs, according to the Mumbai Municipal Corporation.

The survey has found that Seropositivity was highest at 53.43 per cent among the age group of 10 to 14 years. While the Seropositivity was 51.04 per cent among children aged 1 to 4 years, it was 47.33 per cent for those in the 5 to 9 years age group and 51.39 per cent for those between 15 and 18 years. The BMC said Seropositivity among children has gone up from 39.4 per cent recorded last in March for those below18 years.

BMC Commissioner IS Chahal told ET, “This is very positive news that we never expected, the positivity rates are closer to what we got in Dharavi earlier and if you see in Dharavi now there are very few cases. However, we are planning for the worst and our preparations for the third wave continue unabated. We are constantly on our guard.” Dr Rahul Pandit who is in the state govt’s task force says: “The results of the Sero survey of more than 51% of the children having antibodies is encouraging. If the survey is reflective of the entire population (children) then the possibility of them being affected by the third wave may be low. Dr Subhash Salunkhe who is also in the state government’s Task Force, however, disagreed saying: “ In the long run, we have found that infection-induced immunity doesn’t last for long. What we would need is vaccine-induced immunity and covid appropriate behaviour among people.”