As the pandemic reaches its peak in mid-2020, you're sure to read a variety of conspiracy theories that say vaccines are dangerous. In Malaysia, there is also a group that is pro-vaccine but refuses to take the Chinese-made Sinovac vaccine because it is allegedly ineffective.
Yesterday Reuters published a report that the Pentagon conducted a psychological warfare (psiops) campaign against China's vaccine when the pandemic peaked in the summer of 2020. It was done in response to China allegedly conducting its own false information campaign to blame the United States for the spread of the Covid-19 virus.
The campaign focuses on the Philippines, which has strained relations over territorial disputes in the South China Sea. A source who is a former member of the United States military told Reuters that more than 300 fake accounts were used in this pisops campaign.
Accounts purporting to be from the Philippines posted tweets claiming face masks, PPE, Covid test kits and Sinovac vaccines were ineffective. The majority of the accounts use Tagalog to make it seem like they are from the native Filipinos. This propaganda campaign can be said to have been successful with many followers rejecting Sinovac injections in the Philippines.
This program was only stopped in early 2021 after being directed by the Joe Biden administration who did not want the anti-vaccine message to be used when the United States was trying to encourage people to take it. A representative of the United States embassy in Manila had not yet provided any response when this report was published.
Sinovac was one of the earliest vaccines offered in Malaysia at the beginning of the pandemic with the National Immunization Program Coordinating Minister, Khairy Jamaluddin being the first recipient in March 2021. Then Sinovac was no longer offered in Malaysia and was replaced by Pfizer-BioNTech.
