No problem, I don't take this personally :) Sometimes I just can't help diving into political argument despite outcome in most cases is disappoining and HN is not inteded for such discussions in the first place.
As for vaccines, in most cases it is pretty clear why something happens and motives are obvious. Spreading lies about competitors vaccine is definitely a dirty play but at least understandable tactic. Using toursts as a trade war weapon puzzles me a bit but still can probably be useful to improve negitiation position or whatever. But antivaccination propaganda has just rung a bell - it doesn't pass qui bono test. Antivaccination groups in any country are a minority (AFAIK) and it is hard to use them to "divide and conquer". IMO this kind of campaign most likely has been initiated by some antivaccination activists.