The fifth sero survey conducted by the BMC in Mumbai in August 2021 showed that 86.64 per cent of the 8,674 people surveyed had antibodies against Covid-19. (Representational) In a first, the Brihanmumbai Municipal Corporation (BMC) will conduct a nine-month-long sero survey among frontliners in three stages to reach to a clinical explanation if antibodies produced against Covid-19 are waning off and if there is a need for booster shots.
Unlike the previously conducted sero surveys, this sixth survey will be done only among 3,000 healthcare workers (HCWs) and frontline workers over a period of nine months. After collecting the first blood samples for sero sequencing, the second and third samples from the same individuals will be taken after a gap of three and nine months. This is expected to help in understanding the prevalence of antibodies among beneficiaries after taking the jabs.
“This will be for the first time that the BMC will conduct such a three-stage sero-sequencing. The analysis of the antibodies at different intervals in nine months will help us gauge if the acquired antibodies are waning off with time,” said Suresh Kakani, additional commissioner, BMC. “With this, we can decide on the requirement of boosters to contain breakthrough infections,” he said.
Data from the civic body showed that more fully vaccinated individuals are contracting Covid-19 than partially vaccinated ones. The Indian Express reported on January 12 that breakthrough infections among fully vaccinated beneficiaries stood at 15,565 between February 1 and November 7, 2021, which jumped to 40,536 on January 4, 2022 – 154 per cent rise in two months. By comparison, breakthrough infections among the partially vaccinated individuals rose from 16,933 till November 7, 2021 to 18,356 on January 4, 2022, witnessing a rise of 8.4 per cent.
This is attributed to the weakening of antibody response among the fully vaccinated people over time. “In this sero survey, our focus would be on finding out the reasons behind the breakthrough infection, rather than finding out the prevalence of the virus among the crowd,” Kakani said.
The samples of the HCWs will be collected from the hospitals, while the blood samples of the frontline workers will be taken from across the 24 wards in the city. Earlier, the civic body had decided to conduct the sixth sero survey among a population of 10,000 across the 24 wards in Mumbai. But due to the advent of the third wave, the plan was cancelled.
The fifth sero survey conducted by the BMC in Mumbai in August 2021 showed that 86.64 per cent of the 8,674 people surveyed had antibodies against Covid-19. This is significantly higher than the third sero surveillance conducted in March 2021, which found that 36.3 per cent of those surveyed had antibodies against Covid-19.
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