Three days ago I requested access to the GISAID through their Platform registration form, after accepting their DAA (Database Access Agreement), to perform my own analysis of the nCoV-2019.
The confirmation e-mail states:
PLEASE NOTE: After your confirmation, we will activate your account as soon as possible, this will take a few to 24 hours, but may take longer in individual cases.
Which is reasonable given the amount of requests they should receive by now. However, I am suprised to discover the nCoV-2019 Wikipedia page says:
Except for the earliest GenBank genome, the genomes are under an embargo at GISAID. A phylogenic analysis for the samples is available through Nextstrain.
No further references to the embargo, GISAID or genomes in the Talk page either.
What does the "embargo" does it mean here?
And why researchers are uploading most genomes to GISAID instead of the INSDC platforms?
Most likely for protecting intellectual property for future. There are bound to be vaccines that will attract royalties in developed world.
Thank you. I suspected something along those lines.
Makes me wonder if some people realize the world is watching them now.