As someone in a STEM PhD program, I can confirm that within academia, you are not allowed to criticize the COVID regime, even to this day. All that you’re allowed to say about it is “COVID was a scary/crazy time” or something along the lines. Then everyone nods their head in agreement and changes to the subject to the weather or last night’s game. 

As far as I can tell, there has been little to no reflection from the scientific community about what went wrong. At the time, we weren’t allowed to ask questions because we were in the middle of an emergency. Now, we’re not allowed to ask questions because we’re on to new and more pressing things. 

 I really appreciate your honesty!