A longitudinal seroepidemiology study to evaluate antibody response to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and vaccination in children in Calgary, Canada from July 2020 to April 2022: Alberta COVID-19 Childhood Cohort (AB3C) Study

Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity is important to accurately understand exposure to infection and/or vaccination in specific populations. This study aimed to estimate the serologic response to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and vaccination in children in Calgary, Alberta over a two-year...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:PloS one 2023-04, Vol.18 (4), p.e0284046-e0284046
Main Authors: Doucette, Emily J, Gray, Joslyn, Fonseca, Kevin, Charlton, Carmen, Kanji, Jamil N, Tipples, Graham, Kuhn, Susan, Dunn, Jessica, Sayers, Payton, Symonds, Nicola, Wu, Guosong, Freedman, Stephen B, Kellner, James D
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Age groups
Alberta - epidemiology
Analysis
Antibodies
Antibodies, Viral
Antibody Formation
Antibody response
Antigens
Biology and Life Sciences
Child
Child, Preschool
Children
Coronaviruses
COVID-19 - epidemiology
COVID-19 - prevention & control
COVID-19 diagnostic tests
COVID-19 Testing
COVID-19 Vaccines
Diagnosis
Disease transmission
Ethnicity
Female
Health services
Humans
Infections
Laboratories
Male
Management
Medicine and Health Sciences
Nucleocapsids
Population studies
Proteins
Public health
SARS-CoV-2
Seroepidemiologic Studies
Seroepidemiology
Serology
Severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2
Vaccination
Vaccines
Viral diseases
Viruses
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Summary:Measurement of SARS-CoV-2 antibody seropositivity is important to accurately understand exposure to infection and/or vaccination in specific populations. This study aimed to estimate the serologic response to SARS-CoV-2 virus infection and vaccination in children in Calgary, Alberta over a two-year period. Children with or without prior SARS-CoV-2 infections, were enrolled in Calgary, Canada in 2020. Venous blood was sampled 4 times from July 2020 to April 2022 for SARS-CoV-2 nucleocapsid and spike antibodies. Demographic and clinical information was obtained including SARS-CoV-2 testing results and vaccination records. 1035 children were enrolled and 88.9% completed all 4 visits; median age 9 years (IQR: 5,13); 519 (50.1%) female; and 815 (78.7%) Caucasian. Before enrolment, 118 (11.4%) had confirmed or probable SARS-CoV-2. By April 2022, 39.5% of previously uninfected participants had a SARS-CoV-2 infection. Nucleocapsid antibody seropositivity declined to 16.4% of all infected children after more than 200 days post diagnosis. Spike antibodies remained elevated in 93.6% of unvaccinated infected children after more than 200 days post diagnosis. By April 2022, 408 (95.6%) children 12 years and older had received 2 or more vaccine doses, and 241 (61.6%) 5 to 11 year-old children had received 2 vaccine doses. At that time, all 685 vaccinated children had spike antibodies, compared with 94/176 (53.4%) of unvaccinated children. In our population, after the first peak of Omicron variant infections and introduction of COVID-19 vaccines for children, all vaccinated children, but just over one-half of unvaccinated children, had SARS-CoV-2 spike antibodies indicating infection and/or vaccination, highlighting the benefit of vaccination. It is not yet known whether a high proportion of seropositivity at the present time predicts sustained population-level protection against future SARS-CoV-2 transmission, infection or severe COVID-19 outcomes in children.
ISSN:1932-6203
1932-6203
DOI:10.1371/journal.pone.0284046