Beverly Ford v. HHS - Pneumococcal, muscle and/or nerve injury to the left arm (2025)

On August 9, 2018, Beverly Ford filed a pro se petition alleging that a pneumococcal conjugate vaccine, Prevnar 13, caused muscle and/or nerve injury to her left arm. The petition initially referred to a September 2016 vaccination, but the medical records showed that the subject Prevnar 13 vaccine was administered in her left arm on September 24, 2015.

The record described a long pre-vaccination history of chronic pain. Between 2000 and 2015, Ms.

Ford had presented for pain in her head, neck, shoulders, back, joints, and diffuse body areas, with chronic pain syndrome, osteoarthritis, fibromyalgia, hand numbness, ulnar neuropathy, and degenerative spinal changes on imaging. Four days after the Prevnar 13 vaccine, she reported temple pain, pain along the spine, left arm numbness and tingling up to the elbow and left chest, and brief episodes since vaccination.

Examination showed no local swelling, warmth, erythema, tenderness, or difficulty moving the left arm, and strength, reflexes, and grip were normal. On October 6, she reported left shoulder-to-elbow pain and inability to sleep, but the examiner observed intact circulation, movement, and sensation and noted that she reached overhead and rotated the shoulder during conversation.

Later records included a normal left humerus x-ray, normal left arm MRI apart from osteoarthritis, normal venous ultrasound, negative Prevnar skin-prick testing, and EMG/NCS studies that did not identify a left-arm vaccine injury. Respondent moved for a ruling on the record, arguing that Ms.

Ford could not prove a Table SIRVA because she had years of prior shoulder and arm pain, pain not limited to the vaccinated shoulder, and other conditions that could explain her symptoms. Respondent also argued that she had not identified a defined, medically recognized muscle or nerve injury and had no expert or treating-physician opinion linking her condition to vaccination.

Special Master Mindy Michaels Roth agreed. She emphasized that Ms.

Ford's pain was real, but found that the Vaccine Act required proof of a defined compensable injury and vaccine causation. Because the record showed nonspecific symptoms, normal objective testing, preexisting pain disorders, and no medical opinion supporting causation, the petition was denied on December 15, 2025.