EDITORIAL
By now, the public has been thoroughly informed thanks to the wonders of social media and the internet, about the clandestine operation of the United States Department of Defense of using a couple of hundreds of fake social media accounts on Facebook, Twitter (X) and others with the single objective of undermining the Chinese Covid-19 vaccine Sinovac and by extension, China itself.
Reuters made a comprehensive report on this over the weekend. The secret operation was implemented in 2020 and 2021 with the Philippines as primary target, and other poor and developing countries which the US perceived as closer to China than to them.
The sad part is that the secret project was made during the height of the pandemic, and many Filipinos who became victims of disinformation about the vaccine may have died because of it, since the first vaccine that arrived in Manila are those of Sinovac.
Reuters validated at least 325 accounts on X (formerly Twitter) that fit descriptions given by former US military officials familiar with the operation in the Philippines. The wire agency claimed that the Pentagon’s anti-vaccine effort began in the spring of 2020 and spread beyond Southeast Asia before being abandoned in mid-2021. Published posts on Facebook and other social media platforms were also documented.
A senior US Defense Department official confirmed that the US military engaged in secret propaganda to discredit China’s vaccine in the developing world. Another Pentagon spokeswoman said that the US military “uses a variety of platforms, including social media, to counter those malign influence attacks aimed at the US, allies and partners.” She added that China had started a disinformation campaign to falsely blame the US for the spread of Covid-19.
This controversial report should goad top Philippines government officials to immediately reply, at least show their concern and sympathy for the hundreds of Filipinos who died due to Covid-19 perhaps partly because they believed the American propaganda. But what do you hear days after the publication of the Reuters report?
While the US government admitted that authenticity of the Reuters report, and so our government officials have enough facts on hand to make a reaction, the man who was directly responsible for vaccines during the Duterte administration—Carlito Galvez Jr. known then as the vaccine czar—who to take the denial stance instead of calling for an investigation or pursuing the correct line that the US, as the offending party, should apologize and pay compensation.
While officials of the Department of Health (DOH) have called for a formal investigation on this issue, along with several legislators, vaccine czar Carlito Galvez Jr., chose to dismiss the reports alleging a US-initiated propaganda that discredited China’s Sinovac vaccine as false. This, despite the confirmation already made by Pentagon.
“I believe it is not true,” Galvez was quoted by ABS-CBN as saying. Galvez was the National Task Force against Covid-19 chief implementer and vaccine czar during the pandemic.
Galvez reiterated that the best vaccine during the pandemic is the vaccine that is immediately available, and so we had Sinovac.
“I am not aware of anything like this since all countries, through their embassies, are trying to help us to acquire available vaccines in the market,” he explained. “As far as I can remember, most of our friends and allies even said that ‘the best vaccine is the vaccine (on) our shoulders,’ meaning, whatever vaccine we had and (was) available, we have to take it immediately,” he added.
What Secretary Galvez said is the reddest Red Herring that we heard in a long time, because that is not the issue on hand. It is the clandestine use of social media by the US military to discredit the Chinese vaccine, and in so doing promote vaccine hesitancy in the Philippines, probably resulting in thousands of deaths.
ACT Teachers party-list Rep. France Castro had more empathy for the victims, as she strongly condemned the US government, particularly the Pentagon, for running a secret anti-vaccination campaign. Castro said this is “deeply concerning” as it would “cast doubt on the safety and efficacy of Chinese vaccines,” which were the primary vaccines used by the Philippines to combat Covid-19.
“The impact of this operation on public health cannot be overstated. Public health experts have rightly criticized this campaign for endangering lives and undermining trust in vaccines, including those manufactured in the United States,” she said. The lawmaker emphasized that this campaign would contribute to “vaccine hesitancy in the Philippines, a country where vaccine coverage was already limited, leading to unnecessary loss of lives.”
Over in Washington D.C., the Philippine embassy was also silent on the Reuters disclosure, not even issuing a reply when the wire agency requested them to comment.
We maintain that Filipinos and those in the developing country should thank Reuters for its comprehensive and well-researched report on the US government’s secret psyops initiative to undermine China’s Sinovac vaccine during the Covid-19 pandemic, targeting its reputation and use in the Philippines and other countries.
The most appropriate government response should be a Senate or House inquiry on the matter.
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