On January 25, the daily newspaper “Past” reported that the Armenian Defense Minister, Suren Papikyan, signed an agreement with the Pentagon to open the 13th laboratory in Armenia. The article attempts to establish a link between the rise in measles cases and the activities of the laboratories.

The article highlights that experts have raised concerns about the potential dangers of spreading dangerous diseases and pathogens as “American laboratories” work with “pathogenic agents.”

The newspaper also mentions that as of now, in 2023, there have been 545 laboratory-confirmed cases of measles in Armenia. In 2024, 32 measles infection cases were confirmed, of which 16 people were hospitalized.

The article circulated in Armenian media, with websites like news.am, aysor.am, 168.am, shabat.am, and 7or.am featuring it in their press review sections. Media.am’s fact-checking team, “Verified,” analyzed the claims made in the article.

The Ministries have denied the reports regarding the establishment of a “13th laboratory”

“Verified” contacted the Ministry of Defense to inquire whether an agreement was signed to open a laboratory in cooperation with the United States. The department replied, “They do not comment on such absurd news.”

After contacting the “Reference Laboratory Center, ” also known by some media outlets as “American Biolaboratories, ” which falls under the Ministry of Health, we were informed that they had no knowledge of the matter.

The reasons for the increase in measles cases

There has been a sharp increase in measles cases globally in 2023. The World Health Organization (WHO) announced that the primary cause of this outbreak is the significant reduction in vaccinations for children during the coronavirus pandemic. In 2022, 83% of the world’s children received only one measles vaccine dose, the lowest since 2008. Last year, there were only 941 cases of infection, while this year, 42,200 people have already been affected by the disease.

The World Health Organization states that measles vaccination has prevented 56 million deaths globally from 2000 to 2021. In 2021, the number of measles deaths reached 128,000 worldwide, with the majority occurring among unvaccinated or partially vaccinated children under the age of five.

According to data from the RA Center for Disease Control and Prevention (NCDC), the information regarding the prevalence of measles in Armenia that has been shared by “Fact” is indeed correct. However, it should be noted that the increase in measles cases cannot be attributed to the activity of laboratories, as a similar increase has been reported worldwide following the coronavirus outbreak.

Measles is a highly contagious airborne disease. The RA Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports that measles is more infectious than other manageable infections, with one patient infecting up to 18 contacts. The Ministry recommends vaccination as the only effective way to prevent measles.

Despite claims by “Fact” about “American laboratories,” an increase in measles cases has been observed in countries, including Russia. As of December 2023, the number of measles infections had increased by 288 compared to 2022.

What laboratories are we talking about?

The laboratories referred to as “American biolaboratories” are controlled by the National Center for Disease Control and Prevention. However, the number of these labs is different from what “Fact” has reported.

There are reportedly 11 branches of the NCDC laboratories, with ten located in different regions (marzes) of Armenia and one named Reference Laboratory Center in Yerevan. However, the center has informed “Verified” that only 6 of these branches have laboratories. Thus, even if a new laboratory opened in Armenia, it would not be the 13th but the 7th.

The Reference Laboratory Center in Yerevan was funded and renovated by the Defense Threat Reduction Agency of the US Department of Defense, with additional support from Russia, which provided mobile laboratories and equipment. Despite this support, the center operates under the control of the RA Ministry of Health.

The USA has financed the re-equipment of similar structures in other countries, for example, Ukraine (health laboratories), Georgia (Richard Lugar Public Health Research Center), Kazakhstan (Central Reference Laboratory in Almaty), etc.

These laboratories are often targeted by Kremlin or pro-Kremlin propaganda, and “Verified”, along with other fact-checking sites, has repeatedly exposed false information about them. It’s worth noting that, in this case, there was an attempt to create the impression that the opening of the new laboratory is somehow related to Russia. The daily newspaper, citing unidentified sources, claimed that the “13th laboratory” will be located in Gyumri, near the 102nd Russian military base.

Epidemics and “American biolaboratories”

Russia has been conducting a propaganda campaign against laboratories in the post-Soviet bloc for years. Russian media and officials have repeatedly stated that their US-funded rearmament is a move against Russia.

The Russian authorities have also claimed that these laboratories’ operations resulted in epidemic outbreaks in various countries such as Georgia, Kazakhstan, and others. In 2020, Viktor Medvechuk, a member of the parliament, leader of the pro-Russian “Opposition Platform” party, and currently facing charges of treason, attempted to spread this theory in Ukraine. He submitted a request to the country’s president stating that due to the rise in dangerous diseases epidemics such as swine flu (H1N1 flu), “American laboratories” should be investigated. The Security Service of Ukraine responded to this request, dismissing it as an organized information campaign. The Ukrainian National Security and Defense Council emphasized that there are no foreign laboratories in the country, but several state laboratories were renovated with the cooperation of the US.

In 2022, there was an increase in disinformation about laboratories, which was primarily due to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine. This topic was also featured by “Verified”. During this time, Russian officials claimed that over 400 laboratories were operating worldwide, aiming to create biological weapons. The Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation reported that they had discovered and destroyed the causative agents of deadly diseases such as plague, anthrax, and cholera in Ukrainian laboratories.

The rumors about measles outbreaks linked to laboratory activities are not new

In 2022, just like in Armenia, there were reports in Kazakhstan claiming that a measles epidemic had occurred in the country in 2019. The reports suggested that the outbreak was caused by a laboratory in Almaty that was funded by the US government. However, Kazakh fact-checkers denied the claim at the time, stating that those spreading the news did not understand how measles spreads and were manipulating the situation. For more information, please visit the link provided.

During the measles epidemic in Kazakhstan in 2023, claims regarding the safety and effectiveness of vaccinations became active again. The Ministry of Health of the country had to respond to these reports, stating that the increase in measles cases was due to the omission of vaccinations against the disease during the coronavirus pandemic.

The laboratories that were re-equipped by American funding have been frequently targeted by Russian propaganda. Russian officials or individuals linked to them have attempted on multiple occasions to link epidemics to the activities of these laboratories. An example of this is the recent spread of information in Kazakhstan, which connects the spread of measles to a laboratory operating in Almaty.

Lusine  Voskanyan