According to an exclusive report by a prominent media outlet on June 16, the Pentagon (U.S. Department of Defense) secretly ran a campaign against Chinese vaccines during the COVID-19 pandemic.
The media outlet reported that the Pentagon argued, “Since COVID-19 came from China, vaccines from China cannot be trusted,” and thus campaigned against the COVID-19 vaccine produced by the Chinese pharmaceutical company Sinovac. This operation was primarily focused on the Philippines and Islamic countries.
During the height of the pandemic, the Philippines was short on vaccines. Due to their low priority, it was difficult for the country to receive vaccines produced by the West. In response, China supplied the Sinovac vaccine to the Philippines.
During that time, the Pentagon secretly ran a campaign expressing distrust in the Chinese vaccine. The Pentagon spread the campaign that “not only the Sinovac vaccine but also Chinese medical products cannot be trusted” through fake internet accounts impersonating Filipinos.
The Pentagon created approximately 300 fake accounts on X (formerly Twitter) to lead such a campaign.
A typical tweet read, “COVID-19 came from China, and so did the vaccine, so don’t trust China.”
Moreover, the Pentagon spread a campaign in Central Asian and Middle Eastern Islamic countries claiming that the Chinese vaccine contained pork ingredients.
The Pentagon also spread false information that pork gelatin was included in the Chinese vaccine. Pork is a food forbidden in Islam.
The Pentagon’s campaign was effective. Former President of the Philippines, Rodrigo Duterte, was so disappointed by the fact that almost no Filipino residents were keen to get the Chinese vaccine that he threatened to arrest those who refused vaccination.
The campaign started at the end of the Trump administration and continued until the early days of the Biden administration.
The military launched such an operation as they were concerned that China could draw Southeast Asian countries such as Cambodia and Malaysia closer to China through its COVID-19 vaccine diplomacy, thereby increasing its ambitions for regional hegemony.
Although Chinese vaccines are less effective than the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines created by the U.S., the World Health Organization (WHO) has approved them.
The U.S. continued to spread false information that Chinese vaccines cannot be trusted.
American public health experts unanimously said, “The U.S. put third-world citizens at risk for geopolitical gain.”
Professor of Infectious Diseases at Dartmouth Geisel School of Medicine Daniel Lucey said, “I am extremely shocked, disappointed, and disgusted to hear that the U.S. government did such a thing.”
He added, “Many people who could not get vaccinated in time may have died due to the Pentagon’s campaign.”
Of course, China also waged an information war. China spread false information, claiming that COVID-19 originated from U.S. military personnel who attended the World Military Games in China.
It was reported that the U.S. also waged a fierce information war in response.