National Serosurveillance Programme (NSP)
Seroepidemiology Unit (SEU), Health Protection and Surveillance Centre (HPSC).
The National Serosurveillance Programme commenced initially as a pilot in October 2021 with eight acute laboratories. The NSP formally launched in January 2022. Eight acute laboratories of national geographic spread, submit residual sera specimens to the Programme at collection cycles of 6 weekly intervals.
In parallel, a collaborative study with the Irish Blood Transfusion service (IBTS) was initiated in October 2021 and has since been extended until December 2022.
The initial objective of the National Serosurveillance Programme is to report on the seroprevalence of COVID-19 due to vaccination or infection in Ireland over time, by age and quantitative antibody levels. The programme, in time, will provide information on the prevalence of antibodies of other infectious diseases of public health importance.
National- currently 8 acute laboratories of geographic spread, submit residual sera specimens to the NSP. A schedule of collection cycles at 6-week intervals has been agreed until end 2022.
The Irish Blood Transfusion Service (IBTS) contribute data from 500 blood donor specimens every two weeks from three fixed sites, two in Dublin and one in Cork.
The National Serosurveillance Programme is the principal source of data on the seroprevalence of COVID-19 in Ireland.
HSE, Department of Health, policy-makers, clinical teams, analytic partners, researchers and members of the public.
The NSP collects anonymised data from residual sera specimens from a network of acute laboratories. Anonymised blood donor specimen data from the IBTS is also collected. The dataset includes date of birth, gender, date of sample collection and county of residence. Results of specimen testing (positive, negative or not tested) and level of quantitative antibodies are also collected.
Development in progress.
Gender, date of birth and county of residence are included in the National Serosurveillance Programme dataset.
The following equity stratifiers are included in the dataset:
1. Gender
2. County of residence
Anonymised demographic data on residual sera specimens is collected at source in the acute laboratories. Laboratory partners update specimen details on the Laboratory Data Form before sending to the Seroepidemiology Unit (SEU). Specimens are sent to the National Virus Reference Laboratory (NVRL) for testing.
Once testing is complete, specimen results data is sent to HPSC SEU.
Specimen result data is then matched with the anonymised demographic data forms from our laboratory partners, using the SEU ID as the primary identifier.
IBTS collect data on blood donor specimens. Specimens are tested on site in IBTS and in St James’s Hospital
Not applicable.
To date data on approximately 17,716 specimens have been submitted to the NSP. This total includes result data from IBTS and the network of acute laboratories.
The National Serosurveillance Programme publishes reports at periodic intervals on www.hpsc.ie
Reports - Health Protection Surveillance Centre (hpsc.ie)
From 15.07.22 anonymised NSP programme is published in the HPSC Seroepidemiology of COVID-19 Data Hub
This data will be updated at periodic intervals.
The National Serosurveillance Programme publishes reports at periodic intervals on www.hpsc.ie
Reports - Health Protection Surveillance Centre (hpsc.ie)
From 15.07.22 anonymised NSP programme data is published in the HPSC Seroepidemiology of COVID-19 Data Hub
No.
Additional information and documentation regarding the National Serosurveillance Programme is available by contacting seu.programme@hpsc.ie or
National Serosurveillance Programme - Health Protection Surveillance Centre (hpsc.ie)