Hyderabad may be moving towards herd immunity, shows study

The population of Hyderabad appears to be slowly moving towards herd immunity, according to seroprevalence study. Seroprevalence is the percentage of individuals in a population having antibodies to an infectious agent.

The study was carried out by the Centre for Cellular and Molecular Biology, the National Institute of Nutrition (NIN) and vaccine innovator Bharat Biotech International (BBIL) on seroprevalence of antibodies to SARS-COV-2 in around 9,000 persons in Hyderabad.

The study found presence of antibodies against SARS-COV-2 in around 54% of the population, indicating prior exposure to the coronavirus. “This study brings a comprehensive perspective of potentially protective immune response against the coronavirus in the city’s population,” said CCMB director Rakesh Mishra. “The data indicates that the population of Hyderabad might be slowly moving towards herd immunity, which will be certainly accelerated by the ongoing vaccination effort.”


A joint statement said scientists of the three organisations checked for antibodies against the virus in people across 30 wards of Hyderabad city.