SARS-CoV-2 Herd Immunity of the Kyrgyz Population in 2021

Background. In the fight against coronavirus infection, an important direction is control of herd immunity to the pathogen. SARS-CoV-2 herd immunity is formed naturally as a result of manifest or asymptomatic infection, or artificially as a result of vaccination Aim: To assess the SARS-CoV-2 herd immunity status of the Kyrgyz population. Materials and methods. A cross-sectional, randomized study of SARS-CoV-2 herd immunity was carried out according to a program developed by Rospotrebnadzor, with the participation of the Saint Petersburg Pasteur Institute, taking into account WHO recommendations. In all study stages cloud service (internet) technologies were used. The ethics committees of the Preventive Medicine Association (Kyrgyzstan) and the Saint Petersburg Pasteur Institute (Russia) approved the study. A total of 9,471 volunteers were selected, representing 0.15% (95% CI 0.14-0.15) of the total population. They were randomized according to age and region. Antibodies (Abs) to the nucleocapsid antigen (Nag) were determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) of volunteer blood plasma. For vaccinated individuals, Abs to the SARS-CoV-2 receptor-binding domain antigen (RBDag) were determined. Statistical processing of the results was carried out using Excel 2010 and other programs. Differences were designated as statistically significant at p<0.05. Results. The seroprevalence of the general population was 48.7% (95% CI 47.7-49.7), with a maximum in the group of '60-69 year old' (59.2% (56.6-61.7)) and a minimum in the group '1-17 y.o.' (32.7% (95 CI 29.4-36.1)). The largest proportion seropositive was found in the Chui region (51.3% (95% CI 47.9-54.8)). The lowest was in Osh city (38.1% (95 CI 32.6-43.9)). The maximum seropositivity was detected among healthcare workers (57.1% (95% CI 55.4-58.8); the minimum was noted among artists (38.6% (95% CI 26.0-52.4)). Asymptomatic SARS-CoV-2 positivity was 79.1% (96% CI 77.9-80.3). Vaccination with Sputnik V, EpiVacCorona, or Sinopharm formed comparable levels of immunity. Conclusions. The herd immunity to SARS-CoV-2 Nag is 48.75% (95% CI 47.7-49.7), and the overall immunity (Nag + RBDag) is 57%.