Systems biology involves network-oriented, computational approaches to modeling biological systems through analysis of big biological data. To contribute maximally to scientific progress, big biological data should be
FAIR
: findable, accessible, interoperable and reusable Here, we describe high-throughput sequencing data that characterize the vast diversity of B- and T-cell clones comprising the adaptive immune system (
AIRR-seq data
) and its contribution to our understanding of COVID-19. We describe the accomplishments of the “adaptive immune receptor repertoire” (
AIRR
) Community, a grass-roots network of interdisciplinary laboratory scientists, bioinformaticists, and policy wonks, in creating and publishing standards, software and repositories for AIRR-seq data based on the FAIR principles.