More than one in five Dutch blood donors (21 percent) now has antibodies against the coronavirus in their blood, according to Sanquin’s own samples. Antibodies can show that someone has been infected with the virus or that someone has been vaccinated against it.
In February, the antibodies were only found in more than 13 percent of the donors. In February this had increased to 18.6 percent. Antibodies help neutralize the virus, but complete protection does not exist. “Unfortunately, you cannot generally say that someone with antibodies is also guaranteed to be immune,” says Sanquin’s medical microbiologist Hans Zaaijer.
The blood bank sees the samples, which are carried out weekly with the blood of approximately 2,000 donors, as an indicator of the spread of COVID-19 in the Netherlands. Blood donors are not entirely representative of the Dutch population. Minors, for example, are not yet allowed to donate blood. The figures are, according to the spokesperson, “strongly indicative”.
North Brabant and Limburg are at the forefront
In Noord-Brabant and Limburg, 26 percent of blood donors have antibodies against corona, in the rest of the Netherlands that percentage is around 20. In the southern provinces, many people became infected, especially during the first wave.
It is also striking that female donors more often have antibodies (24 percent) than men (16 percent). The blood bank relates this result to the fact that 30 percent of female blood donors work in healthcare, against only 8 percent of male donors. Healthcare workers come into contact with people who have COVID-19 relatively more often and some of the healthcare staff have been vaccinated as a priority.
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