Russian intelligence agencies have shared false and misleading information to undermine confidence in Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccines and other drug manufacturers, according to a report.
Four online publications spreading misinformation about vaccines have been linked to Russian intelligence services, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The report, which cites an unnamed U.S. official with the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, said the sites don’t have a large audience, but their false narratives could be picked up by other international media.
Sites, identified as New Eastern Outlook, Oriental Review, News Front and Rebel Inside, emphasize the risk of vaccine side effects, question their effectiveness, and say the process was rushed to approve the Pfizer vaccine, according to the document.
“We can say that these outlets are directly related to Russian intelligence services,” the Global Engagement Center official told the newspaper. “All of them are foreign-owned, based outside the United States. They vary a lot because of their scope, their tone, their audience, but they are all part of the Russian propaganda and misinformation ecosystem. ”
In addition to the campaign to undermine Western vaccines, Russia’s state media and government Twitter accounts have expanded concerns about the cost and safety of the Pfizer vaccine, the newspaper reported.
Experts said the effort may be an attempt to promote the sale of Russia’s Sputnik V vaccine, the center reported.
A Kremlin spokesman denied the allegations.
“It simply came to our notice then. Russian special services have nothing to do with any criticism of vaccines, “Dmitry Peskov told the newspaper.
“If we treat all the negative publications against the Sputnik V vaccine as a result of the efforts of the American special services, we will go crazy because we see it every day, every hour and in all the Anglo-Saxon media.”