ANSWERED: Does COVID-19 Impact the Immune System?

A Compilation of Medical Research (45+ Studies)

N95 respirators remain an effective measure to protect yourself from SARS-CoV-2. (Engin Akyurt - Unsplash)

In 2020, as hospitals were overwhelmed by patients dying from a new SARS virus, many unqualified voices in America boldly proclaimed that the best way to protect the “vulnerable” was the mass infection of hundreds of millions of unvaccinated people, including children. The “Great Barrington Declaration,” by three comfortable academics on behalf of a lecherous billionaire creep, insisted that this approach would produce robust, durable “herd immunity.” This fantasy did nothing to prevent COVID-19 deaths, nor keep anyone out of the hospital.

The following year, the Biden Administration oversaw a failed “back to normal” vaccine-only strategy - but not for tens of millions of children, who found themselves infected with a brand-new SARS virus before they could be vaccinated in the winter of 2021-22. This did not end well for countless kids. Months later, parents began to complain that their kids were now constantly sick all of the time.

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Foreclosing on Your Child's "Immunity Debt"

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Instead of considering that a new SARS virus might have negative impacts on children’s health, the media propped up the anti-vaccine myth of “immunity debt,” claiming that non-pharmaceutical interventions from 2020 damaged children’s immune systems. Desperate to run cover for the Biden Administration’s pandemic mismanagement, seemingly legitimate voices in the media from David Leonhardt to Benjamin Mazer to Ryan Cooper to Zeynep Tufekci all peddled this blatantly false, unscientific myth. They also boldly denied that there was any possibility that COVID-19, a new disease, could have negative impacts on the immune system. Now? Constant pediatric illness has been tragically normalized amongst parents.

Well, it’s now 2025, and we have a mountain of peer-reviewed medical research that argues otherwise. This resource will be updated regularly.

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• Why scientists are rethinking the immune effects of SARS-CoV-2 (BMJ)

• SARS-CoV-2 infections have a long-term impact on the immune system (Medical University of Vienna)

• (Nature Immunology) Immunological dysfunction persists for 8 months following initial mild-to-moderate SARS-CoV-2 infection

• Immune System Runs Amok Months After COVID (UCSF)

• COVID-19 is “Airborne AIDS”: provocative oversimplification, emerging science, or something in between? (AJPM Focus)

• Evolution of enhanced innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants (Nature Microbiology)

• SARS-CoV-2 Infection Weakens Immune-Cell Response to Vaccination (National Institute of Allergy & Infectious Diseases)

Assorted Immune System Impacts of COVID-19

• Immune response in vaccinated healthcare workers with frequent COVID-19 infections is characterised by blunted IFNγ and IL-2 responses to SARS-CoV-2 variants (Clinical Immunology)

• Dendritic cell deficiencies persist seven months after SARS-CoV-2 infection (Nature Cell & Molecular Immunology)

• “COVID-19 causes long-term reduction of innate and adaptive immune cells which is associated with a Th2 serum cytokine profile.” (European Journal of Allergy and Clinical Immunology)

• Role of glycosylation mutations at the N-terminal domain of SARS-CoV-2 XEC variant in immune evasion (Journal of Virology)

• Cytokine immune profiles among COVID 19 patients with different disease severities (Cytokine)

• SARS-CoV-2 infection induces ZBP1-dependent PANoptosis in bystander cells (Immunology and Inflammation)

• Depletion and Dysfunction of Dendritic Cells: Understanding SARS-CoV-2 Infection (Frontiers in Immunology)

• “…severe COVID-19 can disrupt peroxisomes in macrophages, an immune cell type specialized in engulfing cellular debris and pathogens.” (Science)

Autoimmunity

• (Science) KIR+CD8+ T cells suppress pathogenic T cells and are active in autoimmune diseases and COVID-19

• Autoimmunity in Long Covid and POTS (Oxford Open Immunology)

• Long-Term Risk of Autoimmune and Autoinflammatory Connective Tissue Disorders Following COVID-19 (JAMA Dermatology)

• Prevalent and persistent new-onset autoantibodies in mild to severe COVID-19 (Nature Communications)

Cancer

• “…SARS-CoV-2 possesses oncogenic potential, impacting multiple hallmarks of cancer through its proteins and interactions with cellular pathways.” (Cell Communication and Signaling)

• Linking COVID-19 and cancer: Underlying mechanism (Molecular Basis of Disease)

• “…COVID-19 had suggestive causal associations with the risk for several cancers.” (Journal of Medical Virology)

Immune Aging

• The impact of COVID-19 on accelerating of immunosenescence and brain aging (Cellular Neuropathology)

• Accelerated immune ageing is associated with COVID-19 disease severity (BMC Immunity & Aging)

• Single-cell immune aging clocks reveal inter-individual heterogeneity during infection and vaccination (Nature Aging)

T-Cells

• Reduced numbers of T cells and B cells correlates with persistent SARS-CoV-2 presence in non-severe COVID-19 patients (Nature Scientific Reports)

• Long COVID manifests with T cell dysregulation, inflammation and an uncoordinated adaptive immune response to SARS-CoV-2 (Nature Immunology)

• ACE2-independent infection of T lymphocytes by SARS-CoV-2 (Signal Transduction & Targeted Therapy)

• Longitudinal Analysis of COVID-19 Patients Shows Age-Associated T Cell Changes Independent of Ongoing Ill-Health (Frontiers in Immunology)

• Rapid progression of CD8 and CD4 T cells to cellular exhaustion and senescence during SARS-CoV2 infection (Oxford Journal of Leukocyte Biology)

• SARS-CoV-2 uses CD4 to infect T helper lymphocytes (Immunology & Inflammation)

• T cell perturbations persist for at least 6 months following hospitalization for COVID-19 (Viral Immunology)

Other Diseases, Disorders, & COVID-19

• “[Shingles] following COVID-19 may serve as a clinical indicator of immune vulnerability and heightened susceptibility to hematologic and infectious disorders.” (Sec. Hematology)

• T cell cross-reactivity in autoimmune-like hepatitis triggered by COVID-19 (hLife)

• Activation of tuberculosis in recovered COVID-19 patients: a case report (Annals of Medicine & Surgery)

• Impact of COVID-19 pandemic on the incidence and prevalence of postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome (European Heart Journal)

• SIV/SARS-CoV-2 co-infection in rhesus macaques impacts viral shedding, host immunity, the microbiome, and viral evolution (Research Square)

• SARS-CoV-2 infection induces ZBP1-dependent PANoptosis in bystander cells (Immunology and Inflammation)

• COVID-19 patients share common, corticosteroid-independent features of impaired host immunity to pathogenic molds (medRxiv)

• Acquired Immune Deficiency Syndrome correlation with SARS-CoV-2 N genotypes (Biomedical Journal)

• (Cedars Sinai) COVID-19 Can Trigger Self-Attacking Antibodies

PrePrints

• Chronic Viral Reactivation and Associated Host Immune Response and Clinical Outcomes in Acute COVID-19 and Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 (bioRxiv)

• Rapid Emergence and Evolution of SARS-CoV-2 Variants in Advanced HIV Infection (bioRxiv)

• Persistent Immune Dysregulation during Post-Acute Sequelae of COVID-19 is Manifested in Antibodies Targeting Envelope and Nucleocapsid Proteins (bioRxiv)

• A multimodal atlas of COVID-19 severity identifies hallmarks of dysregulated immunity (medRxiv)

• (bioRxiv) Enhanced innate immune suppression by SARS-CoV-2 Omicron subvariants BA.4 and BA.5

• Association Between COVID-19 Infection and Thyroid Cancer Development (MDPI)

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Hopefully, this settles the “debate” on whether or not the SARS-CoV-2 virus has negative impacts on your immune system. N95 respirators, routine vaccination, and other mitigations still remain effective and needed measures to protect your health. In closing, have a meme:

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