ERR publishes Soomere's address in full:

"Address by the president of the Estonian Academy of Sciences on attacks against the COVID-19 scientific council.

The public assault on head of the COVID-19 scientific advisory council Irja Lutsar shows that we are moving from the era of random hate speech to one of precisely aimed threats.

The fact that professor Lutsar has been targeted is not random. Threatening a country's best and brightest is a direct and conscious attack against the Estonian state. Because a country's functioning, both in terms of solving crises and general success and competitive ability will increasingly depend on the state's ability to procure and put into practice the best know-how available. Today, that know-how resides with scientists who are advising their country. Attempts to ruin them through threats and ridicule constitute an underhanded way of weakening the state.

Francis Bacon knew found hundred years ago that nothing is more dangerous for a country than the clever being allowed to appear as the wise. Now, we can see cleverness forming an alliance with impudence. Science and scientists can describe this process, while they cannot change it. We can only move toward a future worth living in if society as a whole refuses to accept insolence and foulness.

Tarmo Soomere
President of the Estonian Academy of Sciences

Lutsar came under attack after supporting priority vaccination of public servants in key executive positions on ETV's "Ringvaade" program.

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