Pfizer lawsuit a ludicrous long shot
Ken Paxton’s latest lawsuit begins with this declaration: “The COVID-19 vaccines are the miracle that wasn’t.” The indicted Texas attorney general argues that exaggerated claims were made about the vaccine and the public was deceived. He’s incensed about it, and he’s seeking more than $10 million in civil fines.
It’s true that we heard some effusive praise about the COVID vaccine during its rollout in late 2020.
We heard it described as a “monumental national achievement,” “really amazing” and “somewhat of a miracle.”
Those plaudits did not come from a pharmaceutical executive. They were uttered by then-president Donald Trump, Paxton’s friend and political hero.
Given Trump’s role in what Paxton defines as a falsehood perpetrated on the nation, it’s curious that the former president’s name does not appear in the 54-page lawsuit that Paxton filed Nov. 30 in Lubbock County District Court against vaccine manufacturer Pfizer.
While castigating Pfizer for producing what he calls an ineffective vaccine, Paxton refrains from mentioning that Trump, at a Dec. 8, 2020, White House event celebrating the successful development of the COVID vaccine, said, “We’re very hopeful that the (U.S. Food and Drug Administration) will authorize the Pfizer vaccine within days. We’ve got to get it moving.”
Three days later, the FDA fulfilled Trump’s hopes, granting Pfizer emergency use authorization to manufacture a vaccine to combat the worst pandemic of the past 100 years.
Paxton contends that Pfizer misled the nation with its November 2020 announcement that late-stage testing had found the vaccine to be 95% effective.
The attorney general devotes a huge chunk of his legal filing to attacking the methodology and terminology behind those test results.
While it’s probably true that the 95% efficacy figure cited by Pfizer (and the 94.5% figure used by Moderna, another leading COVID-19 vaccine manufacturer) confused some people, it was based on a simple principle.
In tests involving about 44,000 participants, half were given the Pfizer vaccine and the other half received a placebo. Of the 170 COVID cases that emerged, 162 were placebo recipients. Only eight received the actual vaccine. In other words, 95% of the people suffering from COVID-19 were unvaccinated. That’s where the number came from.
The vaccine delivers a snippet of the COVID-19 virus’ genetic code, enabling the body to develop antibodies and fortify itself against the most severe
symptoms of the virus.
Even if you contract COVID-19, the vaccine can help your body rid itself of the virus faster than it otherwise would, thereby making you infectious for a shorter period and reducing the risk you’ll pass the virus on to others.
Paxton argues, however, that Pfizer representatives falsely claimed their vaccine would not only guard against COVID-19 symptoms but also prevent asymptomatic infections.
He points to a July 9, 2020, Time magazine interview with Pfizer CEO Albert Bourla, in which the executive said early data indicated that the vaccine was “able to kill the virus,” although Bourla followed up by more accurately stating that the vaccine could “neutralize the virus.”
Paxton conveniently excludes a caveat that Bourla issued later in that same interview.
“We will only know if the vaccine works when we have the final study,” Bourla said.
Paxton also cherry-picks his numbers to argue that COVID deaths went up after the Pfizer vaccine became available.
It’s a transparently cynical ploy from an elected official who uses the court system as a playground on which he can pander to his right-wing, culture-warrior base.
In January 2021, as the COVID vaccines were beginning to be distributed and administered, the United States averaged more than 3,000 Covidrelated deaths per day.
Five months later, even with several states — including Texas — lifting COVID-19 public-health restrictions, COVID deaths were down to about 300 per day. What could have possibly contributed to that improvement? Could it be the fact that millions of Americans got vaccinated?
The Texas Department of State Health Services’ online dashboard states that unvaccinated Texans are 11 times more likely to die of a Covid-19-associated illness than someone who has received the updated COVID bivalent booster.
But why take their word for it when we can rely on the medical expertise of an indicted, impeached, election-denying conspiracy theorist?
Conspiracy theorist Paxton panders to base with cynical claim about the COVID vaccine