Julie Suliman v. HHS - Tdap, polymyalgia rheumatica and/or myositis (2018)

Julie Suliman filed a petition alleging that the Tdap vaccine she received on April 1, 2011, caused her to develop polymyalgia rheumatica (PMR) and/or myositis. The court found that petitioner's evidence was insufficient to demonstrate that the vaccine caused her conditions.

The petitioner had a long and complicated medical history, including multiple sclerosis, fibromyalgia, and chronic fatigue syndrome, predating the vaccination. While her expert, Dr.

Grewal, suggested a possible link through the ASIA theory and the aluminum adjuvant in the vaccine, the court found this theory lacked scientific support and was not accepted by the medical community. Dr.

Grewal also admitted he had no definitive diagnosis and that his opinion was based on the temporal relationship between the vaccination and the onset of symptoms, and the petitioner's response to steroids. Respondent's expert, Dr.

Matloubian, a rheumatologist, opined that the petitioner's symptoms were more consistent with her pre-existing fibromyalgia and that there was no objective evidence to support a diagnosis of myositis. He also noted that the petitioner's response to steroids was not indicative of myositis and that the timing of her symptoms did not support a vaccine-related cause.

The court determined that the onset of PMR was in June 2011, over two months after the vaccination, and that the petitioner failed to establish a plausible medical theory, a logical sequence of cause and effect, or an appropriate temporal relationship to prove causation. Consequently, the petition was dismissed.