China launches smear campaign to cover up Sinovac’s inferior efficacy rate

WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW:

• Beijing’s state media has aired stories in an effort to instill fears in the public about the safety of Western-made COVID-19 vaccines.
• The move came following Brazilian research showing that the Chinese COVID-19 vaccine ‘Sinovac’ was found to be just 50 percent effective.
• China has launched another misinformation campaign to escape criticisms of mishandling the pandemic as the virus originated in Wuhan.

In a bid to cover up growing concerns about the efficacy of the Chinese Sinovac vaccine, Beijing has launched efforts in instilling fears on the safety of the COVID-19 vaccine developed by US’ Pfizer.

According to the Associated Press, China’s state media has publicized baseless claims that Western media have disregarded the deaths of 23 Norwaynians who have died after receiving doses of Pfizer vaccine. The coverages continued even as authorities already confirmed that the vaccine has nothing to do with the said fatalities.

The assault on Pfizer’s vaccine safety came after Brazil released a study showing that Sinovac was only 50 percent effective, contrary to China’s claim of about 78 efficacy rate against COVID-19.

A government-funded think tank, the Australian Strategic Policy Institute, reported a surge in a disinformation campaign about Western vaccines by Chinese media shortly after the study on Sinovac’s efficacy was revealed. Chinese Centers for Disease Control director Gao Fu was instrumental in spreading fears about the safety of Pfizer and Moderna vaccines.

Chinese media expert Yuan Zeng from the University of Leeds in UK said that the state media’s stories spread extensively. She said that even her well-educated Chinese friends have asked her about the veracity of the news.

Those fake news have only contributed to the distrust of taking the vaccines that Yuan described as “super, super dangerous.”

Moreover, Chinese authorities have also released an outrageous accusation that the coronavirus originated in a military lab at Fort Detrick in Maryland, USA. Per the AP, the social media hashtag ‘American Ft. Detrick’ was spearheaded by the Communist Youth League. Last week, the erroneous campaign was viewed roughly 1.4 billion times.

Speaking with the AP, US-based writer Fang Shimin, who is known for exposing fraud and other bogus news in Chinese science, said that the misinformation campaign’s purpose was “to shift the blame from mishandling by [the] Chinese government in the pandemic’s early days to conspiracy by the US.”

“The tactic is quite successful because of widespread anti-American sentiment in China,” Fang said.

Currently, World Health Organization scientists are in Wuhan to probe the origins of the novel coronavirus.

Source: New York Post