JAKARTA- Almost all residents of Indonesia’s most populous island of Java have antibodies against COVID-19, owing to a combination of prior infection and vaccination against the virus, a government-commissioned survey showed.
The March study of 2,100 people, conducted on Java, home to 150 million people, and Bali, Indonesia’s top tourism destination, revealed 99.2 percent of people had COVID antibodies, a 6 percentage point increase from a December survey.
Pandu Riono, an epidemiologist at the University of Indonesia, which conducted the survey with the health ministry, on Monday told Reuters the antibody levels in the latest survey were higher due to a wider booster shot rollout, as recipients had stronger protection.
Indonesia’s daily case numbers have decreased significantly since a spike in February driven by the Omicron variant. About 60 percent of its 270 million people have been vaccinated against COVID.
Pandu said the stronger antibodies may explain the faster rate at which Omicron variant infections declined in Indonesia.
The December study, of 22,000 people, was conducted nationwide and showed 86 percent of Indonesians had antibodies. — Reuters
