John Squadroni v. HHS - Tdap, back pain, lumbar pain, shoulder pain, and sacral pain (2019)

John Squadroni filed a claim alleging that a Tdap vaccination he received on March 14, 2014, caused him to suffer from back pain, lumbar pain, shoulder pain, and sacral pain. The court found that the petitioner's claimed symptoms predated the vaccination, citing extensive medical records showing prior complaints of low back pain, hip pain, and shoulder stiffness dating back at least two years before the Tdap shot.

On the day of vaccination, Mr. Squadroni was also seeking treatment for jaw, shoulder, and arm stiffness, which he associated with a deer tick bite that occurred two weeks prior.

The court determined that Mr. Squadroni failed to establish a defined and recognized injury causally linked to the vaccine.

His treating physicians offered multiple potential explanations for his symptoms, including uncontrolled diabetes, lumbar spondylosis, and a possible tick bite, and did not consistently attribute his pain to the vaccine. Furthermore, his experts, Dr.

Gershwin and Dr. Singer, focused on his psychological vulnerabilities and pre-existing conditions as amplifiers of his pain, with Dr.

Gershwin explicitly stating that vaccines do not cause fibromyalgia, a condition he suggested Mr. Squadroni might have.

Dr. Singer noted a temporal relationship but did not establish causation.

The court concluded that Mr. Squadroni's pain complaints were more likely due to his pre-existing musculoskeletal issues and psychological symptom amplification rather than the Tdap vaccine.

Therefore, the petition was dismissed for failure to prove a vaccine-related injury and causation.