Attorney General Paxton Investigates Pharmaceutical Companies
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton has launched an investigation into three pharmaceutical companies – Pfizer, Moderna, and Johnson & Johnson – amid concerns over their conduct during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Paxton’s investigation will examine whether the companies engaged in gain-of-function research, misled the public about doing so, and misrepresented the efficacy of their Covid-19 vaccines. The probe will also investigate the potential manipulation of vaccine trial data.
The attorney general’s investigation concerns potentially fraudulent activity that falls outside the scope of legal immunity granted to manufacturers of the Covid-19 vaccine. It will also review the companies’ controversial practice of reporting the metric of “relative risk reduction” instead of “absolute risk reduction” when publicly discussing the efficacy of their vaccines.
With certain pharmaceutical companies experiencing record-breaking financial success due to sales made from products related to the Covid-19 pandemic, there is a vested interest in ensuring that these companies are held accountable for any potential wrongdoing.
The investigation will also force the companies to turn over documents that would not otherwise be accessible to the public. Attorney General Paxton has made it clear that he is committed to discovering the full scope of decision-making behind pandemic interventions, particularly when a profit motive or political pressure may have compromised the health and safety of Americans.
As efforts by the federal government to coerce compliance with pandemic interventions continue, even at the cost of citizens’ employment, the investigation into the scientific and ethical basis on which public health decisions were made has taken on major significance.
Given the unprecedented political power and influence over public health policies that pharmaceutical companies now wield, it is more important than ever that they are held accountable if they take dangerous and illegal actions to boost their revenues.