A federal judge has dismissed a lawsuit by a New York family who claimed the Department of Defense misled Americans into taking experimental COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in their son’s death. The case centered on 24-year-old college student George Watts Jr., who died in October 2021 after receiving two doses of the Pfizer vaccine.
Filed in 2023, the lawsuit accused the Pentagon of “willful misconduct” for promoting the vaccines as “safe and effective” while they were still under emergency use authorization. The family alleged that Watts believed he was receiving the fully FDA-approved Comirnaty vaccine but was given the Pfizer-BioNTech version instead. A coroner ruled that Watts died from “vaccine-related myocarditis,” an inflammation of the heart.
U.S. District Judge Carl J. Nichols dismissed the suit, citing the government’s sovereign immunity from such legal actions. The family’s attorney expressed deep disappointment with the ruling, highlighting the difficulty individuals face when seeking recourse against federal agencies.
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