Attorney General Ken Paxton is directly targeting “Big Pharma and Big Insurance” over what he calls a “multi-level, multi-industry scheme” to financially pressure doctors into pushing childhood vaccines that parents may not believe are safe or necessary.
Paxton’s new investigation focuses on financial incentives tied specifically to childhood vaccine recommendations.
His office says the current framework has “historically forced Texas kids to receive over 70 shots from birth to age 18” as a practical condition to continue receiving medical care from many pediatric practices.
The investigation will examine whether pediatric providers, insurers, vaccine manufacturers, and related entities failed to fully disclose financial incentives connected to vaccination—bonuses, higher reimbursement tiers, or contract requirements tied to achieving certain shot quotas.
Paxton’s office highlighted that children are being expelled from pediatric practices and denied care based on vaccination status, while doctors’ wages, bonuses, and even employment can depend on how many vaccines they administer.
As part of the probe, Paxton is issuing more than 20 Civil Investigative Demands to some of the largest medical providers, insurance companies, and pharmaceutical manufacturers in the country, including UnitedHealthcare and Pfizer.
Paxton bluntly accused Big Pharma and Big Insurance of “bribing” providers to pressure parents into jabbing their children with vaccines they “feel aren’t safe or necessary.”
He said Texans deserve to trust that medical advice—especially for their children—is based on health, not hidden pay structures, and vowed to expose any provider whose guidance is driven by financial incentives rather than genuine medical judgment.
“I will not tolerate a ‘carrot and stick’ approach to healthcare recommendations,” stated Paxton. “Any provider or entity whose medical guidance is fueled by financial incentives from an insurance company, Big Pharma, or otherwise will be exposed.”
Paxton tied his effort to the Trump administration’s vaccine agenda, praising President Donald Trump and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for “significant efforts to ensure safety when it comes to childhood vaccines.”
He contrasted their focus on “Gold Standard Science” with what he called the prior Biden administration approach of pushing “as many possible shots into as many arms as possible,” and pledged to advance parental choice and transparency in all childhood vaccination decisions.
Michelle Evans, political director for Texans for Vaccine Choice, told Texas Scorecard, “TFVC was proud to collaborate with AG Paxton and his team to help identify doctors and clinics who may be in violation of law due to their unethical practices of coercion and denial of medical care. We sincerely hope providers start to rethink their discriminatory policies as a result of Paxton’s action.”
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