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Forbes
Forbes
14 Jun 2024


The Department of Defense surreptitiously operated an anti-vaccine campaign during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic as a means to cast doubt on China’s vaccine program, according to a bombshell Reuters investigation published Friday morning, potentially heightening already sour tensions between Beijing and Washington.

Pentagon

The Pentagon reportedly conducted a secret operation to disparage a Chinese Covid vaccine in 2020 ... [+] and 2021, according to a new report.

CQ-Roll Call, Inc via Getty Images

The Pentagon allegedly coordinated the clandestine effort from spring 2020 through the summer of 2021 during both the Trump and Biden administrations, according to Reuters’ investigation, which cited current and former military officials familiar with China’s vaccine program in the Philippines.

The effort centered around over 300 fake social media accounts allegedly intended to impersonate Filipinos wary of China’s vaccine program, whose posts included a handful of purported gripes over the quality of face masks and test kits, as well as China’s Sinovac vaccine, with the hashtag “Chinaangvirus” (“China is the virus” in Tagalog).

The accounts were removed from X (formerly Twitter) after Reuters inquired into the posts, according to the report, with the Elon Musk-owned platform determining the posts represented a coordinated effort by a computer bot that used “activity patterns and internal data.”

The investigation also found that effort extended beyond the Philippines into central Asia and the Middle East, where Reuters reported the anti-vax posts claimed the shots should be forbidden under Islamic tradition because they can contain pork gelatin.

While the effort began during the final year of the Trump administration, it continued for months after President Joe Biden took office, Reuters reported, only ending after a 2021 Biden administration ban on the program.

Forbes has reached out to the Department of Defense for comment.

This is a developing story and will be updated.

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