Left: A view of Pfizer World Headquarters in Midtown Manhattan, New York City on Dec. 15, 2020 – with signs of phrases proclaiming that scientific breakthroughs and medical advancements will defeat coronavirus. (photo by zz/STRF/STAR MAX/IPx 2020); Right: Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton makes a statement at his office, May 26, 2023, in Austin, Texas. (AP Photo/Eric Gay, File)
Impeached Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has sued Pfizer, Inc., for allegedly unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine and attempting to censor public discussion of the product.
Paxton filed a 54-page complaint in state court in Lubbock County on Thursday that opened with a bit of snark: “The COVID-19 vaccines are the miracle that wasn’t.”
The complaint charged that despite Pfizer’s representations that its COVID-19 vaccine was 95% effective, more Americans died from the virus in 2021 — after the vaccine became available — than died in 2020. Paxton alleged that the true effectiveness of the vaccine amounted to a mere 0.85%.
Paxton alleged that Pfizer “deceived the public” with overstatements of the vaccine’s efficacy that were “highly misleading from day one.” He said the “false, deceptive, and misleading acts and practices” on Pfizer’s behalf constituted a violation the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act.
The complaint idiomatically touted the evidence on which Paxton’s claim is based:
Here, the proof is in the pudding. While Pfizer’s 95% figure made its vaccines seem highly effective, the truth was quite different. When it began making those claims, Pfizer possessed on average only two months of clinical trial data from which to compare vaccinated and unvaccinated persons. Of 17,000 placebo recipients, only 162 acquired COVID-19 during this two-month period. Based on those numbers, vaccination status had a negligible impact on whether a trial participant contracted COVID-19. The risk of acquiring COVID-19 was so small in the first instance during this short window that Pfizer’s vaccine only fractionally improved a person’s risk of infection. And a vaccine recipient’s absolute risk reduction — the federal Food & Drug Administration’s (FDA) preferred efficacy metric — showed that the vaccine was merely 0.85% effective. Moreover, according to Pfizer’s own data, preventing one COVID-19 case required vaccinating 119. That was the simple truth. But Pfizer’s fusillade of public representations bore no resemblance to reality.
Moreover, Paxton said, Pfizer profited “enormously” from its ineffective vaccine, then, “labeled as ‘criminals’ those who spread facts about the vaccine,” and asked that the company be made to repay its allegedly ill-gotten gains.
Over 54 pages, Paxton described Pfizer’s alleged misdeeds along with all manner of COVID-19 statistics to underscore its point that Pfizer reaped billions in profits with its inflated boasts of the vaccine’s utility.
The complaint even included a meme (shown below) shared online by Pfizer in November 2021.
Image via court documents.
The complaint requested that the court order Pfizer to stop making misrepresentations about its COVID-19 vaccine and that the company pay Texas over $10 million in damages and court fees that are specifically deemed not dischargeable in bankruptcy.
Pfizer was the first pharmaceutical company to have its COVID-19 vaccine approved by the federal government for use during the coronavirus pandemic. Although the COVID-19 crisis has largely passed, Texas conservatives have recently taken aim at vaccine mandates, with the state legislature having passed legislation in October banning mandates without exception for health care facilities.
“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 Paxton in a statement Thursday. “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.”
A representative from Pfizer said in an email that the company believes Texas’ case has no merit and will respond to the petition in court in due course.
The statement continued as follows:
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.
Paxton is currently awaiting trial on two counts of felony securities fraud. If convicted, he faces up to 99 years in prison. Trial is scheduled for April.
Paxton was acquitted of bribery and corruption charges in September. He stood accused not only of corruption, but also of obstructing justice in the criminal case pending against him, issuing improper grand jury subpoenas, and violating state whistleblower laws by firing employees who reported his misconduct.
Paxton is not the only Republican official to vilify Pfizer over its vaccines. In 2022, Florida’s Republican Gov. Ron DeSantis filed a petition to empanel a statewide grand jury to investigate whether members of the pharmaceutical industry committed crimes by recommending that people get COVID-19 vaccines.
To read the Texas petition, click here.
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