By Lucky Kidd
Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has filed a lawsuit against Pfizer alleging the pharmaceutical giant, which has a plant in McPherson, made misleading claims related to the COVID-19 vaccine it was one of two major producers of.
Kobach alleges in the suit, which was filed in Thomas County District Court in northwest Kansas, the company misled Kansans about the vaccine’s risks including to pregnant women and for myocarditis along with claiming it protected against COVID variants Kobach said data indicated otherwise, and other matters.
One element of the action involves alleged violation of three past consent agreements Pfizer entered into with Kansas and other states related to promotional and marketing practices of five different prescription drugs.
He also alleges Pfizer was part of a coordinated effort to censor speech critical of COVID vaccine. A similar suit was brought last fall by Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton.
Pfizer issued the following statement Monday afternoon to Ad Astra News.
“We are proud to have developed the COVID-19 vaccine in record time in the midst of a global pandemic and saved countless lives. The representations made by Pfizer about its COVID-19 vaccine have been accurate and science-based. The Company believes that the state’s case has no merit and will respond to the suit in due course.”
Pfizer added that the company is “deeply committed to the well-being of the patients it serves and has no higher priority than ensuring the safety and effectiveness of its treatments and vaccines.”
According to Pfizer, the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine has been administered to more than 1.5 billion people since its initial authorization by FDA in December 2020. Pfizer also stated, that “the vaccine demonstrated a favorable safety profile in all age groups, and helped protect against severe COVID-19 outcomes, including hospitalization and death.”
The statement ended, “Patient safety is our number one priority, which is why we follow diligent safety and monitoring protocols.”
