COVID-19 risk across the two datasets was slightly affected by the local inflammatory response (GCF IL-1β) (ebi-a-GCST010776: IVW OR = 1.02 (95% CI [1.01–1.03]), P < 0.001; ebi-a-GCST010777: IVW OR = 1.03 (95% CI [1.02–1.04]), P < 0.001), whereas PCT3 and PCT5 showed no statistically significant association with COVID-19. Here, IL1B is linked to COVID-19.