Changing Patterns of SARS-CoV-2 Seroprevalence: A Snapshot among the General Population in Kuwait

• Published in: Vaccines (Basel) Vol. 11; no. 2; p. 336
• Main Authors: Alfouzan, Wadha, Altawalah, Haya, AlSarraf, Ahmad, Alali, Walid, Al-Fadalah, Talal, Al-Ghimlas, Fahad, Alajmi, Saud, Alajmi, Mubarak, AlRoomi, Ebtehal, Jeragh, Ahlam, Dhar, Rita
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Switzerland MDPI AG 01.02.2023; MDPI
• Subjects: Age; Antibodies; Blood; Blood & organ donations; Coronaviruses; COVID-19; COVID-19 vaccination; COVID-19 vaccines; Disease transmission; Drug dosages; general population; Hospitals; hybrid immunity; Immune response (humoral); Immunoglobulin G; Immunoglobulin M; Infections; Kuwait; Laboratories; Methods; Pandemics; Plasma; Prevalence studies (Epidemiology); SARS-CoV-2; Serology; Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2; Statistical analysis; Vaccination; Vaccines; Virology; Kuwait; SARS-CoV-2; COVID-19 vaccination; Kuwait; general population; hybrid immunity
• ISSN: 2076-393X; 2076-393X
• DOI: 10.3390/vaccines11020336

We sought to assess pre-vaccination and post-vaccination seroprevalences of anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in Kuwait and to compare antibody levels between vaccine types. In phase 1 (pre-vaccination period, = 19,363), blood samples were collected before the launch of COVID-19 vaccination in Kuwait between 1 September and 31 December 2020. Blood samples for phase 2 (post-vaccination period, = 4973) were collected between 1 September and 30 November 2021. We tested subjects for anti-SARS-CoV-2 antibodies using the DiaSorin LIAISON SARS-CoV-2 IgM and Trimeric S IgG tests. In the pre-vaccination period, the prevalence of SARS-CoV-2 IgM and IgG was 14.50% (95% CI: 14.01-15.00) and 24.89% (95% CI: 24.29-25.50), respectively. The trend of seropositivity increased with age and was higher for females and non-Kuwaiti participants ( < 0.0001). Interestingly, seroprevalence was significantly higher for those who had received one dose of BNT162b2 (95.21%) than those who had received one dose of ChAdOx1-nCov-19 (92.86%). In addition, those who reported receiving two doses had higher seroprevalence, 96.25%, 95.86%, and 94.93% for ChA-dOx1-nCov-19/AstraZeneca, mix-and-match, and BNT162b2 recipients, respectively. After the second dose, median spike-specific responses showed no significant difference between ChAdOx1-nCov-19 and BNT162b2. Furthermore, statistical analysis showed no significant difference between median anti-trimeric S antibody levels of vaccinated individuals according to sex, age, or nationality ( > 0.05). In contrast, a negative correlation between age and anti-trimeric S IgG titers of BNT162b2-vaccinated subjects was observed (r = -0.062, = 0.0009). Antibody levels decreased with time after vaccination with both vaccines. Our findings indicate that seroprevalence was very low during the pre-vaccination period (25%) in the general population and was greater than 95% in the vaccinated population in Kuwait. Furthermore, ChAdOx1-nCov-19 and BNT162b2 are effective in generating a similar humoral response.