The US state of Kansas has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer, accusing it of misrepresenting the safety of its Covid-19 vaccine and violating the state’s consumer protection law, and saying it knew the jab had been linked to serious adverse events.
Filed by State Attorney General Kris Kobach, the suit alleges the drugmaker misled the public when it said it had a safe and effective Covid-19 vaccine, reports Bloomberg.
Pfizer had said its vaccine would prevent the transmission of Covid-19, even though the company knew it had never studied the effect of its vaccine on transmission of the virus, according to the lawsuit.
“Pfizer said its vaccine was safe despite knowing it was connected to serious adverse events, including myocarditis and pericarditis, failed pregnancies, and deaths,” the state wrote in the complaint.
Pfizer’s actions and statements relating to its vaccine violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act, regardless of whether any individual consumer ultimately received the shot, the complaint said.
The company had administered more than 3.5m vaccine doses in Kansas by 7 February2024, according to the lawsuit.
The complaint also said Pfizer maintained its own adverse events database, separate from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS), a national early warning system managed by the US Food and Drug Administration and Centres for Disease Control and Prevention to detect possible safety problems in US-licensed vaccines.
Pfizer’s database contained cases of adverse events reported spontaneously to Pfizer, cases reported by the health authorities, and cases published in the medical literature, according to the suit.
“Upon information and belief, Pfizer’s adverse events database contained more adverse event data than VAERS because it included both information in VAERS and information not in VAERS,” Kobach wrote.
In a statement Pfizer said: “The representations made by Pfizer about its Covid-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based and …the company believes the state’s case has no merit.”
The state seeks damages for Pfizer’s violations of the Kansas Consumer Protection Act and asks the court to order the company to pay civil penalties for alleged violations of previous consent orders with the state.
Bloomberg article – Kansas Sues Pfizer Over Covid-19 Vaccine’s Safety, Efficacy (Open access)
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