Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach said his office has filed a lawsuit against the Pfizer pharmaceutical corporation over its marketing of the firm’s COVID-19 vaccine.

In a news conference Monday, Kobach said Pfizer made false and misleading statements in marketing the vaccine during the COVID pandemic when people were in a state of panic and anxiety and making decisions in a hurry on which vaccine to get.

Kobach said Pfizer had promoted its vaccine as safe for pregnant women, when the company had reports showing adverse effects with some reporting a miscarriage.  He said Pfizer also claimed that its vaccine protected against COVID-19 variants even though data available at the time showed that it was effective less than half the time.    Kobach said the company also claimed that the vaccine would stop transmission of the COVID-19 virus, but it later admitted that it never even studied transmission.

Kobach also accused Pfizer of some censorship attempts to silence critical comments on social media.   He said Pfizer also refused to participate in the federal government’s Operation Warp Speed program to develop COVID vaccines, to avoid federal oversight.

The Attorney General said Kansas is one of at least five states that will be filing similar lawsuits.   He said Texas and Idaho are among the other states that will be taking legal action.

Pfizer issued a statement in response to Kobach’s allegations:

“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.”