Chinese state media and government-associated social media accounts have intensified their campaign to undermine public trust in western vaccines in late January 2021.
The campaign coincides with the arrival of WHO officials who travelled to Wuhan to investigate the early outbreak of COVID-19 and may be intended to deflect attention from it. Recent western media criticism about the efficacy of China’s COVID-19 vaccine is another likely motivating factor for Chinese officials who are irritated by the negative media exposure.
An anchor with Chinese state media television broadcaster CGTN asked Western media why they had not followed up on deaths related to western vaccines – further promoting the false narrative that western vaccines were unreliable. Parenthetically, CGTN’s licence to broadcast in the UK was revoked on Feb 4, 2021.
The Chinese state disinformation narratives have spread to local Canadian online Chinese language media. Posts on the YorkBBS website echo Chinese government disinformation about western vaccines. According to the website, YorkBBS is the most influential Chinese network in Canada and the biggest social media platform in Canada for Chinese Canadians. It currently has 840,000 registered members as stated in their about section.
Norway had indeed reported deaths after vaccination. Yet Norwegian officials have concluded there is no evidence of a direct link between the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and the recent deaths.
Another post suggests that China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs will vaccinate all Chinese citizens in Canada with its domestically produced vaccine. The post has caused confusion in the Chinese speaking community with users asking if the hypothetical Chinese government sponsored vaccinations will be distributed at the Chinese embassy or elsewhere. The post fails to mention that the Canadian government has not approved any vaccines produced in China. Therefore, anyone seeking a Chinese produced vaccine would have to travel to China.
On January 29 2021, Chinese government spokesman Zhao Lijian mentioned that some Chinese citizens in the UAE and Serbia are receiving the Chinese vaccine and that China is lobbying to have the vaccine approved in other countries to get their citizens vaccinated. This is part of China’s soft power vaccine diplomacy and propaganda effort designed to shore up support in its global diaspora communities.
