Abstract
During the COVID-19 pandemic, much of the media focus has been on adaptive immunity, particularly antibody levels and memory T cells. However, immunologists have been striving to decipher how SARS-CoV-2 infection impacts our first line of defence, namely the innate immune system. In early 2022, Program staff from the NIAID at the NIH organized a workshop focusing on the innate immune response to SARS-CoV-2 infection and during COVID-19, which was chaired by Ralph Baric, Jenny Ting and John Lambris. Following the meeting, Nature Reviews Immunology invited some of the organizers and speakers to share their thoughts on the key discussion points.