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Pentagon ran secret anti-vax campaign to undermine China during pandemic (www.reuters.com)

submitted 5 months ago by schizoidman@lemmy.ml to c/news@beehaw.org

8 comments fedilink hide all child comments

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.blahaj.zone/post/13270546

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 20 points 5 months ago* (last edited 5 months ago) (2 children)

Well, that's embarrassing. I guess it was the Trump era, so I shouldn't be too surprised.

[–] Zworf@beehaw.org 12 points 5 months ago

Hopefully it will remain the "Trump era" and not the "first Trump era". This is my main worry right now.

[–] Danterious@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 months ago (1 children)

It says that it continued into the Biden era as well.

The military program started under former President Donald Trump and continued months into Joe Biden’s presidency, Reuters found – even after alarmed social media executives warned the new administration that the Pentagon had been trafficking in COVID misinformation. The Biden White House issued an edict in spring 2021 banning the anti-vax effort, which also disparaged vaccines produced by other rivals, and the Pentagon initiated an internal review, Reuters found.

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[–] CanadaPlus@lemmy.sdf.org 2 points 4 months ago

A bit. It sounds to me like he stopped it as soon as he caught wind of it - there's a lot of projects the US government is doing at any one time.

[–] Truck_kun@beehaw.org 12 points 5 months ago

Not surprised at all it is something the Trump administration was doing considering his rhetoric on the pandemic in general, and China. Awful all around.

[–] Megaman_EXE@beehaw.org 7 points 5 months ago

Honestly, I have no idea how valid/effective the Chinese vaccine is. But stuff like this is bad for everyone, not just the people they were targeting. Short sighted plan, in my opinion.

Even more disturbing if it caused extra deaths.

[–] Auzy@beehaw.org 5 points 5 months ago

I seriously didn't realize this was meant to be a secret?

Trump still can't say "China" without saying it in a really weird tone because he's used to saying "China flu" with emphasis on China.

You can't help but think that a big component of the depression/doom feeling a lot of the experienced at the time was indirectly related to things Trump did

[–] Caligvla@lemmy.dbzer0.com 4 points 5 months ago

Classic. Wouldn't expect less from the U.S. foreign policy.