Kansas lawsuit against Pfizer sparks conversations on COVID-19 vaccine safety

The Kansas attorney general is suing Pfizer for misrepresenting COVID-19 vaccine safety and covering up risks, specifically pregnancy complications and heart inflammation. As with a similar lawsuit in Texas, some social media posts from vaccine opponents in both English and Spanish are using the allegations in the suit to claim that COVID-19 vaccines are unsafe and ineffective.  

Recommendation: Vaccine opponents often use false or misleading claims about heart inflammation and pregnancy complications following COVID-19 vaccination to promote distrust in COVID-19 vaccines. These trending conversations may prompt questions from pregnant patients and others about COVID-19 vaccine safety. Messaging may emphasize that serious vaccine side effects like heart inflammation are extremely rare. Additionally, extensive research shows that COVID-19 vaccines do not increase the risk of pregnancy complications, but actually reduce the risk of severe illness and other complications associated with COVID-19 infection. If responding directly to the false claim that Pfizer misrepresented COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness, messaging may emphasize that the evolution of the COVID-19 virus over time has impacted the effectiveness of COVID-19 vaccines. However, COVID-19 vaccines continue to protect against severe illness, hospitalization, long COVID, and death. The CDC recommends COVID-19 vaccines for everyone 6 months and older.