Who didn't see this coming a few million miles away? In any authoritarian state, everything is touched by the state, including science. It's reflexive, about control, not just twisting the results to suit (if also that).
https://twitter.com/DrRadchenko/status/1396342441456844800
China won't release origin data and keeps tight control of case and death info. Russia lies about case numbers and fudges and withholds vaccine data. Both with serious, ongoing repercussions for global health.
When global institutions like WHO work with dictatorships, they are inevitably corrupted by them. It's not better than nothing, not pragmatic, but becoming a conduit for corruption even if their motivations are good.
As we asked at the time, why did The Lancet publish Sputnik vaccine results with data only from Russian sources, considering their track record? Now there are questions and requests for raw data, six months later? Why not, "we won't publish this unless you provide everything"?
Putin's regime lying about Russia's Covid cases ("Russian Covid miracle!") resulted not just in Russian deaths (still undercounted ~400%), but in Russia not being added to no-fly lists, helping the plague spread worldwide at a critical early stage. But trust their vax data, sure.
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