The inconsistency of predicted/reported severity seen in HLA-A*11:01 may be explained through a combination of factors, including an association with COVID-induced autoimmune disease (42–44) and limited availability of CD8+ hepatitis B epitopes, with some reports (66) suggesting that chronic hepatitis B patients with this allele had less than 10% of known HBV epitopes. Here, CD8A is linked to hepatitis B virus infection.