When it comes to the pandemic, do you ever get the feeling that we are just looking through a tiny gap in the curtains and it takes someone to get up and draw them back to see the full picture? Outspoken T cell Immunologist Anthony Leonardi has been ringing warning bells since last year about what SARS CoV-2 does to our T cells. T cells are a part of the immune system that focuses on specific foreign particles. Rather than generically attacking any antigens, T cells circulate until they encounter their specific antigen. T cells play a critical part in immunity to foreign substances.

“I feel like I have aged 10 years” is a common refrain if you have Long Covid and it’s not that far from the truth. There is growing evidence that Covid is ageing our immune system. SARS CoV-2 is injuring the T cells and what is even more alarming is that each reinfection does more and more damage. According to Leonardi there is no reversing this process. This is what we would traditionally call breaking news. The idea that we can live with Covid without mitigations and new treatments being developed is ludicrous when you factor in this crucial damage. If you follow the logic, eventually, everyone infected with the virus will develop Long Covid. As Leonardi says “it doesn't matter for me, because even if I had it once, I don't want to have it again. You shouldn’t either, nobody should want to have it. I mean, it's not good for you”. He is so concerned about what’s happening to our cells he suggests we need something on the scale of the Manhattan Project to deal with the global fallout.

As we delve deep into the science of this theory, there are many terms that may be unfamiliar to those outside the medical sphere - we have created a glossary, available here, to help interpret the warning that this remarkable immunologist is giving. In this interview Leonardi stretches our knowledge of what is happening to our bodies on a cellular level and how we need to protect our nearest and dearest from contracting Covid at all.