William Morrison v. HHS - Pneumococcal, Miller-Fisher syndrome, a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome (2024)

William Morrison, a 79-year-old man, filed a petition alleging that the Prevnar 13 pneumococcal vaccine he received on September 3, 2015, caused him to develop Miller-Fisher syndrome, a variant of Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS). The medical records detail his admission for abdominal pain and ileus starting around September 13, 2015, followed by the onset of weakness, difficulty standing, and urinary retention by September 14-15, 2015.

He was diagnosed with Miller-Fisher variant of GBS and began treatment, including IVIG and respiratory support. The case proceeded as an off-Table claim, requiring Mr.

Morrison to prove causation. Petitioner's expert, Dr.

Lawrence Steinman, proposed two theories of causation based on molecular mimicry: one involving phosphoglycerol in the vaccine mimicking phospholipids in nerve cells, and another involving a sequence in the CRM197 carrier protein mimicking contactin-1. Respondent's experts, Dr.

J. Lindsay Whitton and Dr.

Brian Callaghan, countered that the scientific literature did not support a link between pneumococcal vaccines and GBS, that gangliosides, not phospholipids, are the primary targets in GBS, and that the proposed molecular mimicry was not scientifically sound or supported by epidemiological data. The Special Master found Dr.

Whitton's opinions more persuasive and concluded that Petitioner failed to establish a sound and reliable medical theory connecting the Prevnar 13 vaccine to GBS under the first prong of the Althen test. Consequently, the petition was dismissed.