In addition, a strong reduction of IL-6, MX-2, and IP-10 RNA expression levels, genes known to be linked to COVID-19 severity (IL-6, IP-10) or at least upregulated in SARS-CoV-2 infection (MX-2) in both humans (43–45) and hamsters (17, 20, 23), was observed in the lungs of vaccinated hamsters as an indicator of protection against virus-induced lung inflammation. Here, IL6 is linked to COVID-19.