As many as 62 per cent of uninfected children aged 6 to 16 years had antibodies, the age group in which antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses are most common.
A new study has shown that six in ten children are immune to COVID-19, despite never being infected by it.
Findings of the study published on GAVI.org, shows that children are far more likely than adults to have antibodies against COVID-19.
This might explain why they are often unaffected by the virus that causes COVID-19 or only have mild illness, the study shows.
An antibody is a protective protein produced by the immune system in response to the presence of a foreign substance, called an antigen (such as coronaviruses). Antibodies recognise and latch onto antigens in order to remove them from the body.
According to the report, researchers publishing in Science looked at people who had never been exposed to the new coronavirus for pre-existing antibodies that bind to the spike protein on the surface of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
They also looked at whether those antibodies had an effect on the way the SARS-CoV-2 virus infects cells.
Findings
The researchers found that roughly 5 per cent of 302 uninfected adult participants had antibodies that recognise the SARS-CoV-2 virus.By comparison, as many as 62 per cent of uninfected children aged 6 to 16 years had antibodies, the age group in which antibodies to seasonal coronaviruses are most common.
In laboratory tests, they found that pre-existing antibodies also stopped the SARS-CoV-2 virus from entering cells.
