Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton accused Pfizer Inc. of misrepresenting the effectiveness of the company’s COVID-19 vaccine in a lawsuit filed in state court on Thursday.
The pharmaceutical giant used misleading statistics to promote its vaccine and sought to “intimidate and silence” those who questioned the product’s efficacy, the lawsuit alleges. Paxton is seeking more than $10 million in civil fines and a court order barring Pfizer from speaking publicly about the efficacy of its vaccine.
“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 in a statement.
The lawsuit follows a probe launched by Paxton’s office in May into three major drug companies related to claims they made about the effectiveness of the vaccine. Paxton has been a vocal opponent of COVID-19 safety mandates since the onset of the pandemic.
