New COVID-19 seroprevalence data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) show that the Omicron surge infected a huge swath of Americans, with overall seroprevalence rising from 33.5% in December of 2021 to 57.7% in February 2022.

The data, which reflect the presence of SARS-CoV-2 antibodies in the blood, indicating a previous infection, were published today in Morbidity and Mortality Weekly Report.

The increase was seen most dramatically in children. In kids ages 0 to 11, seroprevalence jumped from 44.2% to 75.2%, and in kids 12 to 17, it rose from 45.6% to 74.2%.

"As of February 2022, approximately 75% of children and adolescents had serologic evidence of previous infection with SARS-CoV-2, with approximately one third becoming newly seropositive since December 2021," the CDC and other US authors of the report said.

Seroprevalence studies can help detect infections that were asymptomatic or unreported. The antibodies detected are those produced only by natural infection—and not from vaccines.

The presence of antibodies to a previous infection should not be interpreted as protection from future infections, the authors warned. Instead, vaccination is the safest way to increase protection from future infections, the authors said today at a press briefing.

"Those who have detectable antibody from prior infection, we still continue to encourage them to get vaccinated," CDC Director Rochelle Walensky, MD, MPH, said today during a press briefing. "We don't know when that infection was. We don't know whether that protection has waned."

The CDC COVID Data Tracker shows that 66.1% of Americans are fully vaccinated against COVID-19, 77.5% have received at least one dose of vaccine, and 45.6% of those eligible have received their first booster dose.

Data from health departments in all 50 states show that millions of COVID-19 vaccine doses have either gone to waste, remain unused, or will expire in the coming weeks and months, ABC News reports.

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