tetano
Editor, Senior Moderator
BMC Infect Dis
. 2024 Jun 5;24(1):560.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09445-3. High SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in children unvaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine in Changzhou, China, shortly after lifting zero-COVID-19 policy in December 2022
Jie Tang[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Yong Wang[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 3 [/SUP], Weiqin Lu[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Zhihong Gao[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Mingfeng Xu[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Lin Wu[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Jianhua Jin[SUP] 7 [/SUP]
Affiliations
Background: China experienced an overwhelming COVID-19 pandemic from middle December 2022 to middle January 2023 after lifting the zero-COVID-19 policy on December 7, 2022. However, the infection rate was less studied. We aimed to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in children shortly after discontinuation of the zero-COVID-19 policy.
Methods: From February 20 to April 10, 2023, we included 393 children aged 8 months to less than 3 years who did not receive COVID-19 vaccination and 114 children aged 3 to 6 years who received inactivated COVID-19 vaccines based on the convenience sampling in this cross-sectional study. IgG and IgM antibodies against nucleocapsid (N) and subunit 1 of spike (S1) of SARS-CoV-2 (anti-N/S1) were measured with commercial kits (Shenzhen YHLO Biotech, China).
Results: Of the 393 unvaccinated children (1.5 ± 0.6 years; 52.2% boys), 369 (93.9%) were anti-N/S1 IgG positive. Of the 114 vaccinated children (5.3 ± 0.9 years; 48.2% boys), 112 (98.2%) were anti-N/S1 IgG positive. None of the unvaccinated or vaccinated children was anti-N/S1 IgM positive. The median IgG antibody titers in vaccinated children (344.91 AU/mL) were significantly higher than that in unvaccinated children (42.80 AU/mL) (P < 0.0001). The positive rates and titers of anti-N/S1 IgG had no significant difference between boys and girls respectively.
Conclusion: Vast majority of children were infected with SARS-CoV-2 shortly after ending zero-COVID-19 policy in China. Whether these unvaccinated infected children should receive COVID-19 vaccine merits further investigation.
Keywords: Antibody to SARS-CoV-19; COVID-19 vaccination; Children; Discontinuation of zero-COVID-19 policy; Seropositivity.
. 2024 Jun 5;24(1):560.
doi: 10.1186/s12879-024-09445-3. High SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in children unvaccinated with COVID-19 vaccine in Changzhou, China, shortly after lifting zero-COVID-19 policy in December 2022
Jie Tang[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 1 2 [/SUP], Yong Wang[SUP] #[/SUP][SUP] 3 [/SUP], Weiqin Lu[SUP] 4 [/SUP], Zhihong Gao[SUP] 3 [/SUP], Mingfeng Xu[SUP] 5 [/SUP], Lin Wu[SUP] 6 [/SUP], Jianhua Jin[SUP] 7 [/SUP]
Affiliations
- PMID: 38840046
- DOI: 10.1186/s12879-024-09445-3
Background: China experienced an overwhelming COVID-19 pandemic from middle December 2022 to middle January 2023 after lifting the zero-COVID-19 policy on December 7, 2022. However, the infection rate was less studied. We aimed to investigate the SARS-CoV-2 infection rate in children shortly after discontinuation of the zero-COVID-19 policy.
Methods: From February 20 to April 10, 2023, we included 393 children aged 8 months to less than 3 years who did not receive COVID-19 vaccination and 114 children aged 3 to 6 years who received inactivated COVID-19 vaccines based on the convenience sampling in this cross-sectional study. IgG and IgM antibodies against nucleocapsid (N) and subunit 1 of spike (S1) of SARS-CoV-2 (anti-N/S1) were measured with commercial kits (Shenzhen YHLO Biotech, China).
Results: Of the 393 unvaccinated children (1.5 ± 0.6 years; 52.2% boys), 369 (93.9%) were anti-N/S1 IgG positive. Of the 114 vaccinated children (5.3 ± 0.9 years; 48.2% boys), 112 (98.2%) were anti-N/S1 IgG positive. None of the unvaccinated or vaccinated children was anti-N/S1 IgM positive. The median IgG antibody titers in vaccinated children (344.91 AU/mL) were significantly higher than that in unvaccinated children (42.80 AU/mL) (P < 0.0001). The positive rates and titers of anti-N/S1 IgG had no significant difference between boys and girls respectively.
Conclusion: Vast majority of children were infected with SARS-CoV-2 shortly after ending zero-COVID-19 policy in China. Whether these unvaccinated infected children should receive COVID-19 vaccine merits further investigation.
Keywords: Antibody to SARS-CoV-19; COVID-19 vaccination; Children; Discontinuation of zero-COVID-19 policy; Seropositivity.