Do COVID-19 vaccines destroy T cells and weaken the immune system?

On the contrary, COVID-19 vaccines generate a strong T cell response and boost immunity, according to experts.

Articles that have amassed thousands of views across social media this week misrepresent a June study from Britain’s Francis Crick Institute by falsely claiming it showed Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine “destroys T cells” and “weakens the immune system.”

But that’s not at all what the research shows, according to the Francis Crick Institute’s Dr. David Bauer, one of the study’s authors.

“Our work to date has not studied T cells at all,” Bauer told the AP in an email. “All research published to date shows that the Pfizer (and other) vaccines generate a strong, positive, protective T-cell response against SARS-CoV-2.”

Furthermore, research from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and others shows the vaccines boost the immune response.