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US Denounces Russian 'Disinformation' Over COVID-19 Vaccines

Agence France-Presse

   WASHINGTON - The United States denounced Monday what it called a
   Russian disinformation campaign against U.S.-madeCOVID-19 vaccines,
   saying Moscow was putting lives at risk.

   The Global Engagement Center, an arm of the State Department whose
   activities include monitoring foreign propaganda, said that Russian
   intelligence was behind four online platforms involved in a campaign.

   The sites have "included disinformation about two of the vaccines that
   have now been approved by the FDA in this country," State Department
   spokesman Ned Price told reporters, referring to the U.S.Food and Drug
   Administration.

   "It is very clear that Russia is up to its old tricks, and in doing so
   is potentially putting people at risk by spreading disinformation about
   vaccines that we know to be saving lives every day," Price said.
   A medical specialist holds a vial of Sputnik V vaccine against the
   coronavirus in a department store in Moscow, Russia, Feb. 2, 2021.

   The Wall Street Journalfirst reported on the Global Engagement Center's
   findings, which said that the websites played up risks of the U.S.-made
   Pfizer-BioNTechandModerna vaccinesin an apparent bid to boost Russia's
   homegrown Sputnik V.

   In an assessment provided last year to AFP, the Global Engagement
   Center said that thousands of Russian-linked social media accounts have
   run a coordinated campaign to undermine official narratives on COVID-19
   including by spreading allegations of U.S.involvement.

   The center found that China briefly made a similar effort but
   ultimately decided it made more traction by highlighting Beijing's own
   efforts.

   U.S.intelligence has long suspected Russia in disinformation campaigns
   on health, including spreading the myth in the 1980s that
   U.S.scientists created the HIV virus that causes AIDS.

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