Angela Wessinger v. HHS - Influenza, Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration (SIRVA) (2023)

Angela Wessinger, an adult, received an influenza vaccine on October 9, 2018. She alleged a Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration (SIRVA) as a Table injury.

Initially, she reported weakness and nausea within hours of the vaccine, followed by limb weakness, radiating aching discomfort, and paresthesias. Her initial medical evaluations noted some weakness but no objective findings, and differential diagnoses included anxiety and possible vaccine side effects.

Over the following weeks and months, her symptoms evolved, with some doctors considering transverse myelitis or Guillain-Barré syndrome (GBS), and she experienced various neurological symptoms like weakness, numbness, and tingling. Shoulder pain became a more consistent complaint later, nearly a year after the vaccination, leading to diagnoses of bursitis, impingement, and tendinosis.

The respondent argued that the petitioner's numerous neurological symptoms and lack of consistent, shoulder-specific findings within the required timeframe precluded a Table SIRVA claim, particularly the element requiring no other condition to explain the symptoms. The petitioner initially pursued a neurologic injury claim but later amended her petition to focus solely on SIRVA.

The court found that while there was some evidence of onset within 48 hours, the petitioner failed to demonstrate that no other condition or abnormality explained her symptoms, as the record was replete with evidence of broader, neurologic concerns. Consequently, the court dismissed the Table SIRVA claim and, as the petitioner had abandoned her neurologic claim and could not establish a non-Table SIRVA claim, the case was dismissed in its entirety.