US Kansas sues Pfizer for hiding Covid vaccine risks making false claims

Controversies surrounding Covid-19 vaccines continue unabated. Recently, Kansas filed a lawsuit against Pfizer Inc, alleging the company misrepresented the safety of its Covid-19 vaccine, violating the state’s consumer protection laws, Reuters reported.

Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed the suit in the District Court of Thomas County, Kansas. The lawsuit accuses Pfizer of misleading the public by claiming its vaccine was safe and effective despite not studying its impact on virus transmission.

According to the lawsuit, Pfizer promoted its vaccine’s safety while allegedly hiding evidence linking it to pregnancy complications, such as miscarriages, and heart inflammations, specifically myocarditis and pericarditis. The complaint claims Pfizer continued these assertions from the vaccine’s rollout in early 2021.

What does the Kansas lawsuit against Pfizer say?

“Pfizer said its Covid-19 vaccine was safe even though it knew its Covid-19 vaccine was connected to serious adverse events, including myocarditis and pericarditis, failed pregnancies, and deaths,” the Kansas state attorney wrote in the complaint.

In June 2021, the FDA added a warning to the vaccine’s label about the rare risk of myocarditis and pericarditis, primarily in adolescent boys and young men. A 2023 review by the US National Institutes of Health found no connection between Covid vaccines and miscarriage.

Kansas also contends Pfizer falsely advertised that its vaccine, developed with BioNTech, was highly effective against new virus variants and could prevent transmission, not just illness.

The lawsuit asserts Pfizer’s actions violated the Kansas Consumer Protection Act. It notes that Pfizer has administered over 3.5 million vaccine doses in Kansas as of February 7, 2024.

The complaint further reveals that Pfizer maintained its own adverse events database, separate from the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) system, encompassing reports from various sources, including spontaneous reports to Pfizer and published medical literature. Kansas claims this database contained more information than VAERS.

“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,” wrote Kobach.

In response, Pfizer stated that their representations about the vaccine have been accurate and science-based. The company asserts that the state’s case lacks merit and that their vaccine has shown a favourable safety profile, having been administered to over 1.5 billion people globally since December 2020.

Kansas seeks damages for Pfizer’s alleged violations and civil penalties for previous consent order breaches.

What was the AstraZeneca controversy?

In the race to combat the Covid virus quickly and effectively, many bio-pharma companies started experimenting with vaccine development. Astrazeneca and Pfizer were among those who developed it first with great effectiveness, or so they claimed. 

In court documents submitted to a UK court in February, the AstraZeneca company admitted that after admitting their vaccine, a rare side effect known as Thrombosis with Thrombocytopenia Syndrome (TTS) can occur. It had said, “It is admitted that the AZ vaccine can, in very rare cases, cause TTS. The causal mechanism is not known.”

However, in the papers, the company had also said that even if there is no vaccination TTS can happen, adding that expert testimony will be required to determine causation in every individual case.

First Published: Jun 18 2024 | 5:31 PM IST