Meiji Seika Pharma files suit against lawmaker over ‘unfounded’ vaccine claims

Meiji Seika Pharma, has filed a lawsuit against Kazuhiro Haraguchi, a House of Representatives member from the Constitutional Democratic Party, saying his comments on the firm’s new COVID-19 vaccine have greatly damaged its reputation.

The pharmaceutical company, which manufactures a next-generation COVID-19 vaccine known as the replicon vaccine, is seeking ¥10 million in damages, according to media reports. Haraguchi’s comments that the vaccine is “akin to a biological weapon” are unfounded and cannot be tolerated, the firm said in a news conference Wednesday.

“As (he is a) member of parliament, with immunity from arrest and various other privileges, I believe this situation cannot be left unaddressed any longer,” Daikichiro Kobayashi, president of Meiji Seika Pharma said.