The State Security Service considers the actions against the Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center of the Georgian National Center for Disease Control and Public Health as an explicit example of misinformation.

This is stated in the 2019 report of the State Security Service, which was submitted to the Parliament.

According to the document, the Lugar Center is one of the main components of the country’s biological safety, and the center has been one of the main targets of information attacks for years.

“The campaign against the center became large-scale in early 2019, when there was an attempt to link the activities of the Center to the seasonal spread of swine flu (H1N1).

The campaign was motivated by several goals: to stir up fear among Georgian citizens toward the progress, scientific and technological development; To provoke negative attitudes against Georgia’s strategic partner – the United States and, in general, to “demonize” the Western world; to reduce the population’s trust in the Georgian government.

Large-scale information attacks on the research center, as well as propaganda against vaccination and other national health programs, in addition to various challenges, directly threaten the health and safety of the population of Georgia” – the report reads.