Two million doses of Sinovac’s COVID-19 vaccines arrive in the country on August 12, 2021. Photo courtesy of NTC COVID-19/File

MANILA — Sen. Imee Marcos has filed a resolution seeking a Senate inquiry into reported covert propaganda efforts by the US military to discredit China's Sinovac vaccine at the height of the coronavirus pandemic.

According to a Reuters investigation, the US military used at least 300 accounts on social media platform X to cast doubt on vaccines and personal protective equipment from China. The accounts were reportedly made to seem like regular Filipino social media users posting in Filipino.

Marcos, who chairs the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said in her Resolution No. 1052 that it should be verified if the US military indeed launched an anti-vaccine and misinformation campaign during the COVID crisis that also targeted Filipinos.

She also said there is a need to determine the US military's "potential breach of international law," including legal recourse available to the Philippines, adding the alleged disinformation campaign "threatens national security."

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Philippine government agencies and media organizations had been sounding the alarm on influence operations from China but this operation attributed to the US military had been unreported until the Reuters investigation.

DOH: Reported operation deserves to be investigated

The Department of Health has said that "the findings by Reuters deserve to be investigated and heard by the appropriate authorities of the involved countries."

Presidential peace adviser Carlito Galvez Jr., a former vaccine czar at the height of the coronavirus pandemic, has cast doubt on Reuters' investigative report.

He said he does not believe the report is true, explaining that all of the Philippines' allies at that time appeared to support the use of any coronavirus vaccine available.

READ: PH's ex-vaccine czar doubts alleged US-led 'anti-vax' campaign vs China

Activist group Bagong Alyansang Makabayan over the weekend urged the government to investigate the reported influence operation, adding "if the US can do this during the pandemic, there's no telling what other disinformation psyops it has engaged in to shape public opinion favorable to the US."

China hits US for hypocrisy, double standards

In a statement, a spokesperson for the Chinese Embassy slammed the US military's alleged anti-vaccine operation, saying it exposed "hypocrisy, malign intention and double standards of the United States."

"While talking about respecting human rights, the United States does just the opposite regarding the fundamental human rights of life and health of the Filipino people," the embassy said.

Vaccine misinformation and disinformation orchestrated by influential groups or individuals were some of the problems faced by governments during COVID's peak because they worsened vaccine hesitancy and anti-vaccine attitudes, which could seriously affect public health and even cost lives.

Sinovac's CoronaVac is the first coronavirus vaccine administered by the Philippines during the pandemic's emergency phase to contain the spread of the deadly infection.

Confidence in China-made vaccines had taken a hit, partly due to their relatively low potency. This caused some to delay getting a COVID jab at the time and wait for the more efficacious vaccines such as Pfizer and Moderna.

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