Nearly EVERY adult in England has antibodies

ALMOST all adults now have Covid-19 antibodies in the clearest sign yet Britain is reaching herd immunity.

Some 93.6 per cent of over-16s in England tested positive for antibodies last month, according to random testing of tens of thousands of adults by the Office for National Statistics.

Antibodies are produced by the body following vaccination or infection and they fight off the virus.

The ONS data was from blood tests in the week of July 12. Since then, hundreds of thousands more adults have been jabbed and there has also been a big wave of infections, meaning the current figure is likely to be even higher.

The fact that 19 in 20 adults now have immunity highlights the remarkable achievement of the vaccine rollout.

Just one in five tested positive for antibodies in February, shortly after the mass vaccination programme got under way. Nearly nine in ten adults have now had one dose of the jab and 73 per cent have had two doses.

The antibody data shows that levels of immunity are lowest in younger adults, reflecting lower vaccine uptake.

Eight in ten 16 to 24-year-olds tested positive for antibodies, compared to more than 95 per cent of those in their forties, fifties and sixties.

The ONS found some evidence antibody levels are dropping slightly in elderly adults, reflecting waning immunity in this group who were the first to get the jab.

This is likely to support the push for a ‘booster jab’ programme in the autumn to top up immunity levels. The ONS added: ‘Detection of antibodies alone is not a precise measure of the immunity protection given by vaccination.

‘Most older people who are vaccinated will retain higher antibody levels than prior to vaccination, but may have a lower number of antibodies in the blood at the time of testing.’

Scientists are unsure exactly what percentage of people will need to have antibodies to reach herd immunity – when enough of the population are immune to a virus that it starts to run out of new people to infect.

They estimate the threshold is around 85 per cent, but this includes children who make up one in five of the population and are not currently being jabbed.

Professor Paul Hunter, from the University of East Anglia, said: ‘The vast majority of British adults have some degree of protection against Covid.

‘Although antibody tests are not done on younger children, it is reasonable to assume that the majority of younger teenagers will also have had their initial infection and have some degree of immunity.’ While Professor Jonathan Ball, from the University of Nottingham, added: ‘With more than 90 per cent of people testing positive for the presence of coronavirus antibodies, it’s no wonder we are seeing a decline in cases.

‘There will undoubtedly be a large number of people immune through natural infection, but if natural immunity to this coronavirus is similar to that generated to the seasonal coronaviruses, then it is likely to be short-lived.

‘This is another reason to get fully jabbed.’

Yesterday, a further 29,312 cases and 119 deaths were reported.

‘Another reason to get jabbed’