An almost unbelievably scathing BMJ editorial:

“When good science is suppressed by the medical-political complex, people die. Politicians and governments are suppressing science… for political and financial gain.

“Covid-19 has unleashed state corruption on a grand scale, and it is harmful to public health.1 Politicians and industry are responsible for this opportunistic embezzlement. So too are scientists and health experts. The pandemic has revealed how the medical-political complex can be manipulated in an emergency—a time when it is even more important to safeguard science….

“Globally, people, policies, and procurement are being corrupted by political and commercial agendas…

“Politicisation of science was enthusiastically deployed by some of history’s worst autocrats and dictators, and it is now regrettably commonplace in democracies.20 The medical-political complex tends towards suppression of science to aggrandise and enrich those in power. And, as the powerful become more successful, richer, and further intoxicated with power, the inconvenient truths of science are suppressed. When good science is suppressed, people die.”

— Read on www.bmj.com/content/371/bmj.m4425