HOUSTON — On Thursday, Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton announced that he filed a lawsuit against Pfizer over the COVID-19 vaccine.
"Pfizer engaged in false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices by making unsupported claims regarding the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in violation of the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act," a release said.
According to Paxton, Pfizer misrepresented the effectiveness of the vaccine and also tried to censor public discussion about it.
"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. "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 says that Pfizer's claim that its vaccine had a 95% efficacy against infection was "highly misleading."
It also claims that Pfizer "embarked on a campaign to intimidate the public into getting the vaccine as a necessary measure to protect their loved ones."
Pfizer issued this statement about the lawsuit: "Pfizer is deeply committed to the well-being of the patients it serves and has no higher priority than the safety and effectiveness of its treatments and vaccines. Since its initial authorization by FDA in December 2020, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to more than 1.5 billion people, demonstrated a favorable safety profile in all age groups, and helped protect against severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalization and death. The representations made by the company about its COVID-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based. The company believes that the state’s case has no merit and will respond to the petition in court in due course."