Florida Attorney General James Uthmeier filed a lawsuit against Pfizer Inc. this week, accusing the pharmaceutical giant of unfair and deceptive marketing of its COVID-19 vaccine and naming chairman and CEO Albert Bourla personally as a defendant. The 49-page complaint, filed Thursday in state trial court in St. Lucie County, seeks monetary damages for each violation of Florida law along with an injunction against future violations.
According to Creative Loafing Tampa Bay, the lawsuit alleges Pfizer misled Florida consumers as they made sensitive health decisions during the pandemic. The complaint was brought exclusively under the Florida Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act, which prohibits deceptive and unfair trade practices in the state, and it seeks civil penalties of up to $10,000 per violation, rising to as much as $15,000 per violation when senior citizens or disabled individuals are affected, according to Florida Record. The state is also seeking disgorgement of profits.
To establish personal jurisdiction over the New York-headquartered company in Florida court, the complaint points to Pfizer's physical operations at its Global Capability Hub in Tampa, as reported by Seeking Alpha. That local tie gives the lawsuit a direct Tampa Bay connection even as the broader fight plays out in St. Lucie County circuit court.
What the State Alleges
Per the complaint, Pfizer undertook an intensive marketing campaign promoting the vaccine's safety while allegedly seeking to suppress dissent that could affect consumer demand. The filing further alleges that Pfizer hid data reflecting serious safety risks from the public, the same reporting notes.
The lawsuit's financial claims are substantial. Pfizer spent more than $10 billion on global advertising between 2020 and 2023, while Bourla received approximately $102 million in compensation over that same period, excluding proceeds from stock sales, Seeking Alpha reports. The company's COVID-19 vaccine generated more than $80 billion in global revenue between 2020 and 2023, after which Pfizer raised the U.S. list price from around $30 per dose to between $110 and $130 per dose in 2023 as distribution shifted to private commercial channels, according to Fierce Pharma.
Uthmeier denounced Pfizer in a video posted on X following the filing. Pfizer issued a written statement in response, saying it developed the COVID-19 vaccine in record time during a global pandemic and that its representations about the vaccine were accurate and science-based. The company stated the state's allegations have no merit and that it will respond to the lawsuit in due course.
Pfizer's statement also noted that the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine received initial FDA authorization in December 2020, has since been administered to billions of people, and has a favorable safety profile across all age groups, helping protect against severe COVID-19 outcomes including hospitalization and death.
Grand Jury Found No Criminal Wrongdoing
The civil filing follows a January 2025 report from a Florida statewide grand jury, which Governor Ron DeSantis had asked the Florida Supreme Court to assemble back in 2022 to investigate alleged wrongdoing related to COVID-19 vaccines. That grand jury found no evidence that vaccine manufacturers broke federal or state laws in making and distributing the vaccines, according to the Associated Press.
Even so, the grand jury's report criticized close relationships between regulatory agencies and vaccine makers Pfizer and Moderna. Civil consumer protection lawsuits like Florida's carry a lower burden of proof than criminal proceedings, which is part of why the state's new filing represents its primary remaining legal channel for seeking financial penalties and profit disgorgement.
DeSantis separately installed Joseph Ladapo as Florida surgeon general. Florida initially closed nonessential businesses during the pandemic before later reopening. Uthmeier, who filed the lawsuit, took office in February 2025 after DeSantis appointed him following his service as DeSantis's gubernatorial chief of staff and manager of the governor's 2024 presidential campaign, according to Ballotpedia. He succeeded Ashley Moody, who was appointed to the U.S. Senate.
Florida's lawsuit joins similar actions already underway elsewhere. In June 2024, Kansas Attorney General Kris Kobach filed a comparable state consumer protection lawsuit against Pfizer over vaccine safety and transmission statements; a federal judge ordered that case returned to Kansas state court in May 2025 after Pfizer attempted to move it to federal jurisdiction, per the Kansas Attorney General's office.
Texas Attorney General Ken Paxton sued Pfizer in November 2023 under that state's deceptive trade practices law over vaccine efficacy claims, a case Hoodline has covered before.
Federal regulators have maintained that the vaccine's overall benefits outweigh rare cardiac risks.
