Fahrner and colleagues investigated the immune response of patients with cancer and cancer-free individuals to SARS-CoV-2 and found that a propensity toward an IL5-predominant Th2/Tc2 response was predictive of susceptibility to infection. The results of this study also suggest that a cellular response against the Spike 1 protein receptor binding domain (S1-RBD) region of the SARS-CoV-2 proteome contributes to protection and that mutations in this region may drive viral evolution and immune escape. See related article by Fahrner et al., p. 958 (8).