Senior virologist Shahid Jameel, one of the most prominent scientific voices of the pandemic, has resigned as the head of the Indian SARS-COV-2 Genomics Consortia (INSACOG), the scientific advisory group coordinating the country’s genome sequencing work.
INSACOG had come into being in January this year as a scientific body to promote and expedite genome sequencing of the SARS-CoV2 virus and its multiple variants. The consortium had established a network of ten leading laboratories to carry out gene sequencing of virus samples from across the country.
The consortium was initially given a tenure of six months, but later got an extension. The genome sequencing work, which had been progressing at a very slow pace, gathered momentum only after the constitution of INSACOG.
Jameel, a widely respected scientist, has been speaking and writing frequently on the pandemic. Known to speak his mind on scientific matters, Jameel had been critical of the government’s efforts to contain the spread of the virus, particularly during the second wave. He said that government authorities had erred in prematurely believing that the pandemic was over in January, and by folding up many temporary facilities that had been set up in previous months.
Recently, he also wrote a piece in the New York Times in which he stressed on the need to increase testing and isolation, ramp up hospital beds by creating more temporary facilities, rope in retired doctors and nurses, and strengthen the supply chain for critical medicines and oxygen.
“On April 30, over 800 Indian scientists appealed to the Prime Minister, demanding access to the data that could help them further study, predict and curb this virus. Decision-making based on data is yet another casualty, as the pandemic in India has spun out of control. The human cost we are enduring will leave a permanent scar,” Dr Jameel wrote.
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