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Abstract Dexamethasone improves survival of patients with COVID-19 acute respiratory distress syndrome, but might shorten the delay between the start of invasive mechanical ventilation and the occurrence of ventilator-associated pneumonia, suggesting possible worsening of COVID-19-induced immune dysfunction with this treatment. In a prospective observational study, we found that mechanically ventilated patients with COVID-19 treated with dexamethasone presented earlier ventilator-associated pneumonia, had significantly lower monocyte Human Leukocyte Antigen-DR expression and number of circulating CD4 + cells after ICU admission, than those not treated with corticoids.