Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton is going after Pfizer—again.
Less than two weeks after documents were unsealed showing that Texas has accused Pfizer and manufacturer Tris Pharma of providing a compromised ADHD medicine to the state, Paxton has sued Pfizer for “unlawfully misrepresenting the effectiveness” of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine, Comirnaty.
Paxton, a Republican, says that Pfizer’s claim of 95% efficacy against infection is misleading and overstated. His lawsuit (PDF) accuses Pfizer of conducting a campaign to “intimidate the public into getting the vaccine” and argues the company “conspired to censor public discourse” on the shot.
The suit claims Pfizer has violated the Texas Deceptive Trade Practices Act and seeks more than $10 million in fines. Texas also aims to force Pfizer to stop making “misrepresentations” about its vaccine.
“The company believes that the state’s case has no merit,” Pfizer wrote in an emailed statement, adding that its representations of its vaccine have been “accurate and science-based.”
In May, Paxton announced that the state launched an investigation into whether Pfizer, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson conducted “gain-of-function” research and the possibility that the companies manipulated trial data.
Paxton’s office did not respond immediately to a question about whether the state would sue Moderna or Johnson & Johnson.
The COVID-19 vaccine lawsuit comes right after Paxton accused Pfizer and Tris Pharma of knowingly providing a compromised ADHD drug, Quillivant XR, to the state's Medicaid program. In response, Pfizer said it "believes that the state’s case has no merit and will move to dismiss the case in due course."