There is no way that anything negative about masks or vaccines will ever make it to an “academic” publication. When you submit a research study to a journal for publication it is sent out to a number of reviewers, usually around 3. These are academics who are considered to be experts in a field. After this happens, the reviewers will either accept, reject, or request revisions. I have seen the requests for revisions be as simple as including information from other studies in the literature review section all the way to requests for different statistical analyses. The bottom line is that these reviewers are the gatekeeper between studies and publication. Getting a publication through this process if the study has findings that are not politically correct is nearly impossible. For example, I know of a study that was done comparing criminal offending rates between two areas that were very similar with the exception of the predominant race. The study showed that one group offended at a much higher rate than another. The study was rejected from every journal it was submitted to. While I am on this soapbox, I will point out that surveys are often written in a way that paints certain groups in a different light than what the group actually is. It completely guides the direction of the study and allows researchers to work toward their own biases. As if most of you didn’t already know, academic research has huge areas that are nothing more than an echo chamber.