Alexzander Rose v. HHS - HPV, alopecia areata (2025)

On November 13, 2017, Denise Sheffield-Rose and Mark Rose filed a petition for compensation on behalf of their son, Alexzander Rose, alleging that the human papillomavirus (HPV) vaccine administered on March 30, 2015, caused him to develop alopecia areata (AA). Alexzander Rose was 13 years old at the time of vaccination.

His parents first noticed hair loss around mid-to-late April 2015, approximately 22-32 days after the vaccination, and he was subsequently diagnosed with alopecia areata and later alopecia universalis. Petitioner's expert, M.

Eric Gershwin, M.D., proposed a theory of molecular mimicry, suggesting that the HPV vaccine triggered cytotoxic T cells that cross-reacted with hair follicle antigens, leading to AA. Respondent's experts, Arnold I.

Levinson, M.D., Maryanne Makredes Senna, M.D., and Emanual Maverakis, M.D., countered that there was no reliable scientific evidence linking the HPV vaccine to AA. They highlighted numerous large-scale studies showing no association between HPV vaccination and autoimmune diseases, including AA, and argued that the aluminum-adjuvanted HPV vaccine primarily elicits antibody responses, not the specific cytotoxic T cells implicated in AA pathogenesis.

They also pointed to Petitioner's personal risk factors, such as a history of atopy and potential stressors, as more likely contributors to his condition. Special Master Herbrina D.S.

Young found that Petitioner failed to establish a prima facie case under the three-pronged Althen test. The court found that the medical literature did not persuasively support the theory that the HPV vaccine causes cytotoxic T cell production leading to AA, nor was there sufficient evidence of a logical sequence of cause and effect specific to Alexzander's case beyond temporal proximity.

The onset of symptoms also did not fit the proposed 14-day window for a T-cell response. Consequently, the petition was denied.

Petitioner was represented by Mark Theodore Sadaka of the Law Offices of Sadaka Associates, LLC, and Respondent was represented by Meghan Murphy of the U.S. Department of Justice.