Expert: US 'vaccine lies' caused harm

THE United States government's disinformation campaign against China's anti-Covid vaccine has caused significant damage in the Philippines on so many levels, infectious diseases expert Edsel Salvana said.

As reported by Reuters, the US military initiated a covert operation aimed at countering China's influence in the Philippines. The secret campaign, which began in 2020, sought to undermine the safety and efficacy of China's Sinovac vaccine.

This secret campaign, Salvana said, had undermined the Philippine government's efforts to boost vaccine uptake ahead of the actual vaccination program.

Salvana said it was also «disheartening to learn the US, as an ally, would do such a thing at the height of the Covid-19 pandemic that killed millions worldwide.»

In the Philippines, the disinformation drive compromised the government's vaccine program, prolonging the process of achieving higher vaccination rates.

This delay, Salvana added, led to unnecessary suffering and, in some cases, deaths among those who were hesitant to take the available vaccines as the anti-Sinovac propaganda forced people to wait for the arrival of the American-made alternative.

Despite the secret anti-Sinovac campaign, he said, the Philippines still ended up doing better at pandemic statistics than the US and many other wealthy countries with much more advanced facilities.

Salvana noted that the death rate per million population is 130th in the world «because Filipinos still followed the science.»

«They got behind an unprecedented vaccination program; they wore face masks; and they protected one another even as a pandemic raged around them. And despite all the disinformation, the vaccines — all of them — worked,» he said.