Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic - eviltoast
  • SGGeorwell@lemmy.world
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    5 months ago

    That’s not exactly what happened if you read the article behind the bad headline. They were sowing doubt in the Chinese vaccine specifically in the Philippines, not vaccines in general.

    • TokenBoomer@lemmy.worldOP
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      5 months ago

      And that makes it okay ✅

      “Why did you do it when people were dying? We were desperate,” said Dr. Nina Castillo-Carandang, a former adviser to the World Health Organization and Philippines government during the pandemic. “We don’t have our own vaccine capacity,” she noted, and the U.S. propaganda effort “contributed even more salt into the wound.”

    • Grimy@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      The U.S. military’s anti-vax effort began in the spring of 2020 and expanded beyond Southeast Asia before it was terminated in mid-2021, Reuters determined. Tailoring the propaganda campaign to local audiences across Central Asia and the Middle East, the Pentagon used a combination of fake social media accounts on multiple platforms to spread fear of China’s vaccines among Muslims at a time when the virus was killing tens of thousands of people each day. A key part of the strategy: amplify the disputed contention that, because vaccines sometimes contain pork gelatin, China’s shots could be considered forbidden under Islamic law.

      It seems it only started in the Philippines but ya it was mainly aimed at the Chinese vaccine and PPE. It’s more cutt throat shady business than anti-vax stupidity.

    • Wogi@lemmy.world
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      5 months ago

      I mean the anti vax campaign worked well for Russia, so why not sew doubt in preventive measures during a global health crisis?