WASHINGTON – Russian intelligence agencies have launched a campaign to increase trust in Pfizer Inc.’s vaccines. and other Western vaccines, using online publications that have questioned the development and safety of the vaccines in recent months, US officials said.
An official from the State Department’s Global Engagement Center, which monitors foreign disinformation efforts, identified four publications that he said served as a front for Russian intelligence.
The websites played the risk of side effects from the vaccines, questioned their efficacy, and said the US had rushed the Pfizer vaccine through the approval process, among other false or misleading claims.
Although the media readership is small, US officials say they bring in false stories that could be reinforced by other Russian and international media outlets.
“We can say that these outlets are directly linked to Russian intelligence services,” said the Global Engagement Center official of the sites behind the disinformation campaign. “They are all foreign owned, located outside of the United States. They vary greatly in their reach, their tone, their audience, but they are all part of Russia’s propaganda and disinformation ecosystem. ”