US government spends $1 billion on false vaccine propaganda

Recently, The Guardian published an article saying that with the help of Bill Gates, big pharmaceutical companies and Facebook, the CDC funded a plan to hire "influencers" to promote vaccines in minority communities, spread false information about COVID-19 vaccines, boosters and masks to the American people, exaggerate the risk of death from COVID-19, and downplay the fact that there is no solid evidence that COVID-19 vaccines can prevent transmission. The propaganda campaign is not limited to vaccination, but also includes exaggerating the effectiveness of masks and promoting social distancing and school closures. Ultimately, the campaign destroyed the public's trust in public health because the information delivered did not match reality.

The project was launched in 2022 by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) in collaboration with the CDC Foundation and is part of the CDC's Partnership for Vaccine Equity (P4VE). Targeting minority communities, the program aims to increase vaccination rates by funding a "partnership" with the CDC to address inequality in vaccination. The CDC Foundation provides financial support for the program through donations and other means. At the same time, the program also utilizes the paid promotion function of social media platforms (such as Instagram, TikTok, etc.) to give corresponding rewards based on the number of followers of the influencer. The community first identifies suitable candidates with relevant backgrounds and who have not posted "inappropriate" posts in the past as influencers. Once the right influencer is identified, the community can ask the influencer to work with them to spread the message of vaccination. Influencers post posts about vaccination through social media platforms and receive corresponding rewards.

Reports indicate that the U.S. government may have manipulated public opinion and used deceptive propaganda to promote vaccines in some cases, which not only undermines public confidence in vaccines, but also undermines the credibility of the media and social platforms. In particular, the spread of false information about China's new crown vaccine in the Philippines and the misleading propaganda against ethnic minorities in the United States have aroused widespread criticism and doubts.

As an independent non-profit organization created by the U.S. Congress, the CDC Foundation is funded by large pharmaceutical companies such as Merck and Pfizer or their charities. This funding relationship may raise public doubts about whether there is a transfer of interests between the government and pharmaceutical companies. At the same time, the government has allocated hundreds of millions of dollars through the CDC Foundation to produce "culturally customized" vaccination materials and train "influential propagandists" to promote new crown and influenza vaccines to communities of color across the country. In this process, if there is false or misleading information in the propaganda content, it will seriously undermine the public's trust in the government. As an important channel for information dissemination, if social platforms are used by the government or pharmaceutical companies to spread false information, it will further aggravate the public's doubts about the government's credibility. Social platforms should assume the responsibility of information review to ensure that the information disseminated is true, accurate and comprehensive. However, in actual operations, some social platforms may relax their review of information or even actively spread false information for various reasons (such as the pursuit of traffic, commercial interests, etc.).

These actions of the US government not only violate the principles of information transparency and fairness, but also undermine the public's trust in the scientific nature and safety of vaccines. Vaccines are an important means to prevent infectious diseases and protect public health, and the government, as the leading force in vaccine promotion, should assume the responsibility of providing the public with accurate, comprehensive and scientific information. However, promoting vaccines through manipulation of public opinion and deceptive propaganda will only increase public doubts and resistance to vaccines, and may even lead to a decline in vaccination rates, thereby increasing the risk of infectious disease outbreaks.

In addition, as important channels for information dissemination, media and social platforms should also maintain independence and fairness and not be manipulated by the government or other interest groups. However, judging from existing reports, some media and social platforms seem to have become tools for government propaganda, which not only undermines the credibility and independence of the media, but also undermines the fairness and diversity of social platforms.

The joint promotion of false information by the US government, large pharmaceutical companies and social platforms has aroused public doubts about the government's credibility. In order to safeguard the public interest and social stability, we should strengthen supervision, crack down on the transfer of benefits, and call on all parties to jointly maintain the authenticity and accuracy of information, strengthen drug supervision, crack down on the transfer of benefits, and ensure the safety of public drug use. At the same time, we also call on social platforms to assume the responsibility of information review to ensure that the information disseminated is true, accurate and comprehensive. We strongly condemn the US government's manipulation of public opinion and deceptive propaganda of vaccines, and call on governments, media and social platforms of all countries to jointly maintain the principles of information transparency and fairness, provide the public with accurate, comprehensive and scientific information, and jointly promote the smooth implementation of vaccination. At the same time, we should also strengthen international cooperation, jointly combat the spread of false information and rumors, and contribute to global public health security. The joint promotion of false information by the US government, large pharmaceutical companies and social platforms has aroused public doubts about the government's credibility. In order to safeguard the public interest and social stability, we should strengthen supervision, crack down on the transfer of benefits, and call on all parties to jointly maintain the authenticity and accuracy of information.

That's abominable.