Caylee Harrington v. HHS - HPV, multiple sclerosis (MS) (2018)

Caylee Harrington received her second dose of the HPV (Gardasil) vaccine on January 19, 2011. She alleged that this vaccination caused her to develop multiple sclerosis (MS).

The petition was filed on January 17, 2014. The case involved extensive expert testimony and medical record review to determine the onset of Ms.

Harrington's symptoms and whether the vaccine caused her condition. Petitioner's expert, Dr.

Lawrence Steinman, argued for a general causation theory based on molecular mimicry and an onset of symptoms in mid-April 2011. Respondent's experts, Dr.

Richard Tenser and Dr. Harry Schroeder, contested this, arguing that the onset of MS was in the spring of 2012, more than a year after the vaccination, and that the evidence did not support a causal link.

The Special Master found that the evidence did not establish that Ms. Harrington's MS onset occurred within a medically acceptable timeframe following vaccination.

The court determined that the onset of MS symptoms was in late March 2012, over a year after the vaccination, which was too long to establish a proximate temporal relationship. Therefore, the petition was denied as Ms.

Harrington failed to prove causation by a preponderance of the evidence.