Julie Cavanaugh v. HHS - Influenza, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2025)

On January 11, 2021, Julie Cavanaugh filed a petition alleging that an influenza vaccination administered on January 14, 2020 caused a right shoulder injury related to vaccine administration. She described a distressing vaccination encounter, immediate severe pain, and systemic symptoms including shaking, difficulty breathing, and heart palpitations.

The case turned on proof of Table SIRVA onset. Ms.

Cavanaugh's email to her doctor two days after vaccination and an in-person visit about two weeks later did not mention shoulder pain. The first medical-record mention of shoulder pain appeared at a telehealth visit about four months after vaccination.

Her expert, Dr. Natanzi, accepted her later account and opined that she had SIRVA, but he acknowledged he was assuming the accuracy of her recollection.

Special Master Daniel T. Horner found that Ms.

Cavanaugh had not overcome the weight of contemporaneous medical records and had not proven shoulder pain within forty-eight hours. The decision also noted that she did not successfully challenge adverse findings on other SIRVA elements.

Entitlement was denied on November 20, 2025. The Court of Federal Claims later upheld the dismissal on review, finding no reversible error in the Special Master's weighing of the medical records and testimony.