The emergence of COVID-19 has led to numerous controversies over COVID-related knowledge and policy. To counter the perceived threat from doctors and scientists who challenge the official position of governmental and intergovernmental health authorities, some supporters of this orthodoxy have moved to censor those who promote dissenting views. The aim of the present study is to explore the experiences and responses of highly accomplished doctors and research scientists from different countries who have been targets of suppression and/or censorship following their publications and statements in relation to COVID-19 that challenge official views. Our findings point to the central role played by media organizations, and especially by information technology companies, in attempting to stifle debate over COVID-19 policy and measures. In the effort to silence alternative voices, widespread use was made not only of censorship, but of tactics of suppression that damaged the reputations and careers of dissenting doctors and scientists, regardless of their academic or medical status and regardless of their stature prior to expressing a contrary position. In place of open and fair discussion, censorship and suppression of scientific dissent has deleterious and far-reaching implications for medicine, science, and public health.

COVID-19 的出现引发了关于 COVID 相关知识和政策的众多争议。为了应对挑战政府和政府间卫生当局官方立场的医生和科学家的威胁，这种正统观念的一些支持者已经开始审查那些宣扬不同观点的人。本研究的目的是探讨来自不同国家的高成就医生和研究科学家的经验和反应，他们在发表与 COVID-19 相关的出版物和声明挑战官方观点后成为压制和/或审查的目标。我们的调查结果表明媒体组织，尤其是信息技术公司在试图扼杀关于 COVID-19 政策和措施的辩论方面发挥的核心作用。为了压制其他声音，不仅广泛使用了审查制度，而且还广泛使用了压制策略，损害了持不同政见的医生和科学家的声誉和职业，无论他们的学术或医疗状况如何，也无论他们在表达意见之前的地位如何相反的立场。代替公开和公平的讨论，对科学异议的审查和压制对医学、科学和公共卫生产生了有害而深远的影响。