HHS/CDC Fund Online Game 'Bad Vaxx' to 'Psychologically Inoculate' Vaccine Resistance
Ironically, the game uses the very techniques it claims to train users to detect.
U.S. taxpayer funds are being used by federal health agencies to develop and test online psychological games designed to condition how people—especially younger audiences—interpret and respond to vaccine skepticism.
An August Nature Scientific Reports study reveals that the project was funded by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) under the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, through a CDC award administered by the American Psychological Association.
The paper states that the funding totaled “$2,000,000 with 100% funded by CDC/HHS.”
The grant supporting the project is titled “COVID—INOCULATING AGAINST VACCINE MISINFORMATION,” award number 6NU87PS004366-03–02.
That award has already handed out over $4.3 million in taxpayer funds since its activation in 2018.
Follow us on Instagram @realjonfleetwood & Twitter/X @JonMFleetwood.
If you value this reporting, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
For advertising & sponsorship opportunities reaching 300,000+ monthly viewers, contact us by clicking below.
The project language mirrors the study’s conceptual framework: dissent is treated as exposure to a pathogen, and resistance to dissent is treated as immunity.
The government-funded study centers on the creation and evaluation of an online game called Bad Vaxx.
According to the authors, the purpose of the game is not to examine disputed vaccine claims or to compare competing evidence, but to reduce what they define as “vaccine misinformation” by shaping how players cognitively process vaccine-critical content.
This is despite the CDC’s own VAERS data confirming over 2.7 million injuries, hospitalizations, and deaths linked to vaccines since 1990.
The study authors explain their premise at the outset:
“Vaccine misinformation endangers public health by contributing to reduced vaccine uptake.”
From this premise, the study moves directly to intervention design.
“We developed a short online game to reduce people’s susceptibility to vaccine misinformation.”
The paper frames this approach as a form of psychological prevention, borrowing language from immunology rather than education or debate.
“Psychological inoculation posits that exposure to a weakened form of a deceptive attack… protects against future exposure to persuasive misinformation.”
The Bad Vaxx game operationalizes this concept by training players to recognize four specific “manipulation techniques”: what it refers to as emotional storytelling, fake expertise, the naturalistic fallacy, and conspiracy theories.
These techniques are treated as characteristic of vaccine misinformation as a category.
“The game trains people to spot four manipulation techniques, which previous studies have identified as being commonly used in the area of vaccine misinformation.”
The study does not include a corresponding examination of whether similar persuasive techniques may be used in vaccine-promoting messaging, government communications, or pharmaceutical advertising.
Ironically, the Bad Vaxx project itself relies on the same persuasive architecture it claims to neutralize—emotional framing, authority cues, and repetition—embedded in a gamified format designed to shape intuition rather than invite scrutiny.
The classification of “vaccine misinformation” is established in advance and applied only to information critical of injectable pharmaceutical products.
Throughout the paper, vaccine skepticism is framed as a behavioral and social risk rather than as a possible response to uncertainty, evolving evidence, or institutional error.
The taxpayer-funded authors write:
“Susceptibility to misinformation about COVID-19 predicts lower compliance with public health regulations and lower willingness to get vaccinated.”
The choice of a game as the delivery mechanism is emphasized as a strength of the intervention.
The authors repeatedly describe the format as “entertaining,” “immers[ive],” and scalable, highlighting its ability to shape intuition rather than deliberation.
“A practical, entertaining intervention in the form of an online game can induce broad-scale resilience against manipulation techniques commonly used to spread false and misleading information about vaccines.”
Games function by rewarding correct pattern recognition, reinforcing desired responses, and reducing analytical friction.
The study’s outcome measures reflect this design: discernment scores, confidence ratings, and willingness to share content, rather than independent evaluation of claims or evidence comparison.
The researchers also emphasize the potential reach of such interventions.
“The Bad Vaxx game has the potential for adoption at scale.”
This matters because the funding source is not an academic foundation with no policy stake.
The CDC is the primary federal agency responsible for vaccine schedules, promotion, and uptake.
Yet the study does not address how this institutional role shapes the definition of misinformation used in the intervention, nor does it acknowledge the conflict inherent in a public health authority funding psychological tools aimed at managing disagreement with its own policies.
The dystopian nature of the project emerges from the structure itself: state funding, psychological conditioning, asymmetric definitions, and a delivery system designed to bypass debate in favor of intuition.
What the paper documents, in concrete terms, is the use of taxpayer funds to develop and validate a behavioral intervention—delivered through a medium optimized for psychological conditioning—that trains users to reflexively distrust a predefined category of speech, while exempting vaccine-promoting institutions from equivalent scrutiny.
Follow us on Instagram @realjonfleetwood & Twitter/X @JonMFleetwood.
If you value this reporting, consider upgrading to a paid subscription.
For advertising & sponsorship opportunities reaching 300,000+ monthly viewers, contact us by clicking below.
Good grief. That is the most condescending and stupid and Captain Obvious "game" I have ever seen. Millions of dollars? Would anyone over age 9 fall for that sanctimonious crap? I thought the government could not embarrass me more, but looks like there is still room to spare. And I truly think that anyone dumb enough to be swayed by this - has already been jabbed. Or perhaps the median IQ is a lot lower than I thought. Thanks for the research. If this is a game for teenagers or adults, it is, IMO, a fail. And anyone younger has no say in being jabbed anyway. FFS. I had to stop at the telling emotional stories because that is exactly what the jab industry does,.
Seasons greetings dear Jon: Thank you for this.
Perhaps, we need to get serious about all the game-playing by those who seem ignorant, and behave like distraction is needed in the friendly form of weekend parental banter. It’s like neighbours talking about how to distract their kids, instead of taking precious time for face-to-face meaningful dialogue, sharing informed observations and at least a few serious - if not teachable - moments in respectful, thoughtful open conversation.
We might wonder: What if those we love, including ourselves, are worthy of good health, resilience and innate capacities to adapt with natural gifts, of life.
In the past three weeks, the people I know who got this years flu shot, after at least two doses of the novel COVID-19 vaccines… including doctors, a government speach writer, election administrators and three active seniors and a teenager… have either died suddenly after receiving standard medical care for a non flu anomaly after flu symptoms, or have the ‘flu’ without a temperature, and have tooth aches or losing teeth to standard dental practices. It seems a story of iatrogenic burden, and persistent bio dysregulation.
Nothing to do with the spiked punch, unless that’s a metaphor for unexplained oral and systemic effects.
People forget the SARSCoV two used a cold-flu virus. AND there are more ACE binding receptors in the mouth than in the nose.
Time from flu shot to tooth ache or the flu seems to be about 4-6 weeks.
Holiday plans are falling apart as people lose teeth, energy or everything. I am sorry for your and our collective losses of loved ones, as professionals and authorities invite us to play their games.
Wishing you well and all the the best 2026. Keep up the good work!