Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach has initiated legal action against Pfizer, alleging the company made misleading and deceptive claims about its COVID-19 vaccine and should be held accountable.

Kobach highlighted the widespread panic and anxiety during the pandemic, particularly among the elderly and individuals with various medical conditions who were at higher risk of severe illness or death.

He noted that when vaccines became available, people were under pressure to quickly decide whether to get vaccinated and which vaccine to choose.

“You do not deceive consumers, and you especially must not deceive consumers when consumers are making an urgent, frantic decision, believing that their life might be on the line.”

Kobach held a news conference to announce the lawsuit.

He said the 69-page complaint he filed goes into great detail, but these are the four items he considers to be the most egregious:

1. Pfizer marketed its COVID-19 vaccine as safe for pregnant women.

“However, in February 2021, Pfizer possessed reports for 458 pregnant women who received Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine during pregnancy,” Kobach said. “More than half of the pregnant women reported an adverse event, and more than 10% reported a miscarriage, many within days of the vaccination.”

2. Safety relating to heart conditions like myocarditis.

“Pfizer consistently denied any evidence of a connection or safety signal between its COVID-19 vaccine and myocarditis or pericarditis,” Kobach said. “However, as Pfizer knew, the United States government, the United States military, foreign governments and others had found that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccine caused myocarditis and pericarditis.”

3. Effectiveness regarding variants.

“Pfizer also claimed that its COVID-19 vaccine protected against COVID-19 variants even though data available at the time showed Pfizer’s vaccine was effective less than half the time against variants,” Kobach said.

4. Transmission.

“Pfizer urged Americans to get vaccinated in order to protect their loved ones, clearly indicating a claim that Pfizer’s COVID-19 vaccination stopped transmission of COVID-19,” Kobach said. “Pfizer later admitted that it had never even studied transmission after its recipients received the vaccine and whether they could say it stopped transmission.”

“Pfizer knew of multiple side effects, which I already talked about, and did not disclose, and, in some ways, you know, made statements that were contrary,” Kobach said. “It’s more than just a failure to say that there are side effects. They made statements saying there are no side effects in particular cases when, in fact, they knew there were side effects, and they had data indicating those side effects.”

His complaint also alleges that Pfizer coordinated with social media officials to censor speech critical of COVID-19 vaccines and declined to participate in the federal government’s vaccine development program, Operation Warp Speed, to avoid government oversight.

Kobach said Pfizer has violated previous consent judgments with the State of Kansas in which Pfizer promised never to use deceptive information to market their products.

Pfizer’s response

“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 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. 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.

“Patient safety is our number one priority, which is why we follow diligent safety and monitoring protocols.”