Very few people outside the Western world actually believed this obvious lie, and in turn, they tried to make sense of reality with all sorts of wild crazy conspiracy theories. For example, it's very common in my country of origin, where malaria is very prevalent and people treat themselves with hcq all the time, for people then to believe that "Whites" created the COVID vaccine, or COVID, to exterminate them. You will hear it even on TV etc and no one will get outraged by it. This is also why Russia is popular on the ground, despite all evidence that they are actually more harmful.