Texas attorney general Ken Paxton announced Thursday that his office is suing Pfizer, claiming that the company violated state law when it allegedly lied about the efficacy of its Covid-19 vaccine.
Paxton’s office claims the pharmaceutical giant violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act by engaging in “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims” about the vaccine.
The AG’s office said Pfizer’s claim that its vaccine is 95 percent effective against Covid-19 infection is “highly misleading.”
“Pfizer created the false impression that its vaccine provided a substantially greater amount of protection against COVID-19 infection than what it afforded in reality,” Paxton’s office said, accusing the company of launching a “continuous and widespread campaign” to mislead the public about the efficacy of its vaccine.
The “deceptive conduct was reinforced and extended by Pfizer’s efforts to censor persons who sought to disseminate truthful information that would undermine its ongoing deception,” the statement adds.
Paxton claimed Pfizer relied on a “relative risk reduction” assessment to arrive at the 95 percent efficacy figure. The FDA says such assessments leave patients “unduly influenced” and vulnerable to “suboptimal decisions.”
“We are pursuing justice for the people of Texas, many of whom were coerced by tyrannical vaccine mandates to take a defective product sold by lies,” Paxton said in a statement. “The facts are clear. Pfizer did not tell the truth about their COVID-19 vaccines. Whereas the Biden Administration weaponized the pandemic to force illegal public health decrees on the public and enrich pharmaceutical companies, I will use every tool I have to protect our citizens who were misled and harmed by Pfizer’s actions.”
The lawsuit comes nearly eight months after Paxton first announced plans to investigate Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson for their potentially misleading claims about the efficacy of each of their Covid shots and whether or not they “engaged in gain-of-function research.”
Nearly a year ago, Florida governor Ron DeSantis announced his intention to empanel a grand jury to investigate “any and all wrongdoing” involving Covid-19 vaccines in the state.
Most health officials agree that the Pfizer and Moderna vaccines are safe and effective at preventing serious illness or death from Covid-19. The CDC has acknowledged that the vaccines can slightly increase the risk of myocarditis in some patients.
Pfizer responded to DeSantis’s announcement at the time by saying its Covid-19 vaccines had saved hundreds of thousands of lives, and tens of billions of dollars in health care costs.
“Regulatory agencies across the world have authorized the use of our COVID-19 vaccine,” the statement read. “These authorizations are based on robust and independent evaluation of the scientific data on quality, safety and efficacy, including our landmark phase 3 clinical trial. Data from real world studies complement the clinical trial data and provide additional evidence that they vaccines provides effective protection against severe disease.”