Paul Christensen v. HHS - Influenza, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2021)

Paul Christensen filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, alleging he suffered a shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) after receiving a flu vaccine on October 17, 2013. He claimed to have experienced pain in his left shoulder one day after the vaccination.

However, the court found that the petition was filed over three years after the alleged onset, making it untimely under the Vaccine Act's 36-month statute of limitations. The medical records indicated that Mr.

Christensen's shoulder pain actually began approximately five weeks before the vaccination, following a long road trip, and was aggravated by the flu shot. He did not report the vaccine as the cause of his pain until several months later.

The court determined that Mr. Christensen failed to establish a Table SIRVA claim because the evidence preponderantly showed his pain predated the vaccination and did not begin within the required 48-hour window.

Furthermore, the court ruled that the "lookback" provision, which could save otherwise untimely claims related to Table revisions, did not apply to non-Table, causation-in-fact claims. As the claim could not satisfy the Table requirements and was filed well after the statute of limitations expired, the court granted the respondent's motion to dismiss the case.