ICMR has been singled out for straying from scientific evidence, appearing at worst politically-motivated and at best overly optimistic. A letter from the Director General of the ICMR, Balram Bhargava, said that the ICMR envisaged launching a coronavirus vaccine on August 15 (a deadline considered unrealistic by most medical experts).
“According to news reports, hours before announcing the national lockdown, Prime Minister Narendra Modi told owners and editors from India’s largest media organisations that it was important to tackle the spread of pessimism, negativity, and rumour. This pressure to avoid negative news, and to offer reassurance, appears to have been felt by several professional scientific organisations in India,” the editorial states.
Condemning the false hope combined with a positive spin, The Lancet states that such a situation clouds reality and also hampers vital public health initiatives. Such false reporting and perpetuating unrealistic claims, failing to report honestly creates uncertainty among the public and health-care professionals, discouraging people from taking preventive action or taking public health messages seriously.
Praising India’s expertise in public health, research and medicine, The Lancet concluded that to capitalise on these attributes, India’s leaders must respect “scientific evidence, expert commentary, and academic freedom, and not provide false optimism”.
