Acute phase SARS-CoV-2-specific T cells displaying a highly activated cytotoxic phenotype were present in antibody-seronegative exposed family members, indicating that they may be capable of eliminating infection prior to induction of humoral immunity (Sekine et al., 2020), and it has been suggested that strong antibody responses but weak CD8 T cell responses could contribute to acute COVID-19 pathogenesis and severity (Sette and Crotty, 2021; Zhou et al., 2020). This evidence concerns the gene CD8A and COVID-19.