Thus, we compared the release of the three key adaptive and innate cytokines IL-2, IFNγ and TNF in response to unspecific stimulation with Pokeweed mitogen (PWM) in severely ill COVID-19 patients with pneumonia, in patients with sepsis originating from bacterial pneumonia and in patients with bacterial sepsis originating from other foci than pneumonia. Here, IL2 is linked to susceptibility to pneumonia measurement.