- Russian intelligence is sowing misinformation about the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, WSJ reported.
- Four foreign-owned stores are releasing information that questions the effectiveness and safety of the Pfizer vaccine.
- US intelligence believes that this effort to undermine Pfizer is a way of strengthening Russia’s vaccine.
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Russian intelligence officials are trying to raise questions about the Pfizer coronavirus vaccine, according to a new report by the Wall Street Journal.
Four publications that act as fronts for Russian intelligence are disseminating information that questions the effectiveness and safety of the Pfizer vaccine, State Department officials told the Journal.
Russia is spreading misleading information designed to make Americans question whether the United States has speeded up the approval process for the Pfizer COVID-19 vaccine.
“We can say that these channels are directly linked to Russian intelligence services,” an official at the State Department’s Global Engagement Center told the newspaper. “They are all foreign-owned, based outside the United States. They vary widely in their reach, their tone, their audience, but they are all part of Russian propaganda and the disinformation ecosystem.”
In November, Russian President Vladimir Putin said the country hopes to distribute its controversial Sputnik V coronavirus vaccine to other countries.
Russia announced a successful coronavirus vaccine in August, but Sputnik V was approved under questionable circumstances. It was released before going through testing phase 3. In the United States, phase 3 is a requirement before a drug or vaccine can be examined and approved by the Food and Drug Administration.
The rushed schedule has prompted health officials to speculate whether the Kremlin has coerced vaccine manufacturers to launch Sputnik V quickly to gain an edge in the global race to cure the new coronavirus.
US intelligence officials now believe that this effort to undermine the Pfizer vaccine that comes out of the Kremlin is another way to reinforce the status of Sputnik V, the Journal reported.
Johnson & Johnson is the latest company to enter the vaccine game. The healthcare giant is offering a single-dose vaccine that the company hopes to distribute to 4 million Americans soon.
Johnson & Johnson, whose vaccine obtained FDA approval in late February, said it expects to vaccinate 20 million people by the end of March and 100 million by the end of June.
Including the Johnson & Johnson vaccine, the United States is now distributing and promoting three effective vaccines to Americans.
Pfizer and Moderna – the two companies whose coronavirus vaccines preceded Johnson & Johnson – have efficacy rates of 94% and 95%, respectively.
Coronavirus vaccines have been launched in the United States since December 2020, after Pfizer became the first company to produce and receive FDA approval for distribution.
With this third vaccine on the market, the US is expected to have enough doses to immunize 300 million people.
More than 57 million people in the United States have received at least one dose of a coronavirus vaccine. Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require two doses, while Johnson & Johnson requires one.
Last week, President Joe Biden said the United States plans to have sufficient doses of coronavirus vaccines for “all adults in America” by the end of May. Biden’s announcement accelerated the timeline to reach that limit by about a month, reported Insider’s Eliza Relman and Sonam Sheth.
It has been almost a year since WHO declared the coronavirus a pandemic. Since then, more than 28 million people in the United States have contracted the virus, according to the latest data compiled by Johns Hopkins University. Of that total, more than 500,000 Americans died.
The State Department did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Insider.