Texas is asking the court to punish one of the country’s leading vaccine manufacturers. Leading the charge is the state’s Attorney General, Ken Paxton.
The staunch Republican wants Pfizer to pay for what he believes were false claims the company made about its Covid-19 vaccine. He accused the pharmaceutical giant of not only misrepresenting the potency of its vaccines but “intimidating” people who weren’t fans of the product.
Filed in a Texas state court, the lawsuit is praying the court to slam Pfizer with $10 million. In addition, the suit also hopes to stop the company from advertising its vaccine to the public.
Pfizer isn’t the only company under scrutiny of the Texas government. In May, the Attorney General’s office launched a probe into three pharmaceutical companies.
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The AG’s grouse against all the companies centered on allegations of misrepresenting their vaccine effectiveness. Paxton has fiercely contested the controversial COVID-19 safety mandates, which he viewed with suspicion.
“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,” said a statement Paxton made.
The company strongly disagrees with Paxton’s claims and has released a counter statement. A spokesperson said through email that the company has “no higher priority than the safety and effectiveness of its treatments and vaccines.”
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The drug manufacturer also stressed that the “representations made by the company about its COVID-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based.” Pfizer and other vaccine manufacturers such as Moderna, AstraZeneca, Johnson & Johnson, and GSK have been in the eye of the storm.
Critics, led by mostly conservative commentators, have accused the pharmaceutical companies of taking advantage of the pandemic to line their pockets.
In 2020, the company Pfizer made a claim which is the major bone of contention between them and the Texas Attorney General. Pfizer claimed that its vaccines were 95% effective, which the AG believes is highly dishonest and misleading.
The claim gave users the impression that its vaccine would end the COVID-19 pandemic. “Contrary to Pfizer’s public comments, however, the pandemic did not end,” Paxton said.
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The lawsuit also accused the pharmaceutical company of making moves to gag people who criticized its vaccine. Paxton alleged that the company contacted X (then known as Twitter) executives to do something about the dissenting opinions.
The suit isn’t the first one between Paxton and Pfizer. Earlier, a few weeks before, the Texas Attorney General had approached the courts on another issue regarding ADHD medication.
Paxton had sued the company for distributing defective and adulterated ADHD medication to children. Pfizer argued that the safety of the ADHD product is intact.
In the new lawsuit, Paxton also argued that the COVID death toll was higher after the release of Pfizer’s vaccine than before its release. The pharmaceutical company will have to prove that its vaccines, as it claimed, “demonstrated a favorable safety profile in all age groups, and helped protect against severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalization and death.”
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