SIRVA claims: what 6,386 court records show
Shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) is the most common claim in the VICP. The registry indexes 6,386 decided SIRVA cases: 89% were compensated, the median award is $65,000, and the median time from filing to decision is 21.5 months. The vaccine most frequently named is influenza, followed by Tdap — reflecting the volume of adult intramuscular shoulder injections.
SIRVA describes a shoulder injury attributed in petitions to the administration of a vaccine — the mechanics of the injection — rather than to the vaccine's contents. It was added to the Vaccine Injury Table in 2017, which gives qualifying claims a legal presumption and explains the high compensation rate: most SIRVA cases resolve by stipulation without a contested hearing.
About this data. Computed from every published VICP decision indexed by this registry (12,882 cases as of 2026-07-11), from the public dockets of the U.S. Court of Federal Claims. Median figures exclude a small number of records with unusable award data. Most compensated cases resolve by stipulation or proffer (negotiated settlement) rather than a litigated finding; an award is the court's resolution of an individual legal claim, not a medical or scientific finding about vaccines generally. Past awards do not predict any individual outcome.