Marilyn Datte v. HHS - Pneumococcal, Guillain-Barre syndrome (GBS) (2025)

On January 2, 2018, Marilyn Datte filed a petition seeking compensation under the National Childhood Vaccine Injury Program. She alleged that a pneumococcal conjugate (Prevnar 13) vaccination she received on January 15, 2015, caused her to develop Guillain-Barré Syndrome (GBS).

The case proceeded as an off-Table claim, requiring Ms. Datte to prove causation-in-fact.

The public decision does not describe the specific onset of symptoms, but medical records indicate that ten days after vaccination, on January 25, 2015, Ms. Datte presented with tingling in her hands and feet, which progressed over the following days to significant weakness, numbness, difficulty breathing, and swallowing.

She was hospitalized and diagnosed with GBS. Petitioner's expert, Lawrence Steinman, M.D., opined that the Prevnar 13 vaccine could cause GBS through molecular mimicry, specifically involving phosphoglycerol components in the vaccine.

Respondent's experts, Vinay Chaudhry, M.D., and Robert Fujinami, Ph.D., contested this theory, arguing that the evidence did not support a causal link and that the proposed mechanism was not scientifically sound. Special Master Daniel T.

Horner issued a ruling on entitlement on May 9, 2025, finding that Ms. Datte's GBS onset occurred within a medically acceptable timeframe following vaccination and that her expert's theory of causation was sound and reliable.

The Special Master concluded that Ms. Datte was entitled to compensation.

Subsequently, on December 15, 2025, a decision awarding damages was issued. The parties reached a stipulation for damages, and Special Master Horner awarded Ms.

Datte a lump sum of $190,000.00. Petitioner was represented by Robert Krakow of the Law Office of Robert J.

Krakow, P.C., and respondent was represented by Jennifer Leigh Reynaud of the U.S. Department of Justice.