Russian intelligence agencies have been sharing false and misleading information to undermine confidence in COVID-19 vaccines from Pfizer and other drug makers, a report said on Sunday.
Four online publications that spread misinformation about vaccines have been linked to Russian intelligence services, the Wall Street Journal reported.
The report, which cites an unidentified American official from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, said the sites did not have a large audience, but their false narratives could be picked up by other international media.
The sites – identified as New Eastern Outlook, Oriental Review, News Front and Rebel Inside – emphasize the risk of side effects from vaccines, question their effectiveness and say the process has been speeded up for approval of the Pfizer vaccine, the newspaper reported.
“We can say that these channels are directly linked to Russian intelligence services,” the Global Engagement Center official 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 addition to the campaign to undermine Western vaccines, Russian state media and government Twitter accounts have raised concerns about the cost and safety of Pfizer’s vaccine, the newspaper reported.
Experts said the effort could be an attempt to promote the sale of the Russian Sputnik V vaccine, the channel reported.
A Kremlin spokesman denied the allegations.
“It’s an absurd. Russian special services have nothing to do with any criticism of vaccines, ”Dmitry Peskov told the Journal.
“If we treat all 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 Anglo-Saxon media.”