Adwoa Ampofo-Addo v. HHS - MMR, MOGAD / acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM) (2025)

Adwoa Ampofo-Addo, a 37-year-old woman, received a Tdap vaccine on April 17, 2018, and MMR and varicella vaccines on April 24, 2018, as part of her U.S. immigration requirements. She alleged these vaccines caused her to develop myelin oligodendrocyte glycoprotein antibody-associated disease (MOGAD) and/or MOG-positive acute disseminated encephalomyelitis (ADEM).

Petitioner presented with a history of upper respiratory infection symptoms prior to vaccination, and in the weeks following vaccination, she experienced a range of symptoms including fever, headache, urinary issues, abdominal distention, weakness, tremor, and sensory disturbances. She was hospitalized and diagnosed with ADEM post-vaccination, acute renal insufficiency, and an adnexal mass, later also diagnosed with transverse myelitis and anti-MOG positive encephalomyelitis.

Petitioner's experts, a neuroimmunologist and an immunologist, proposed that the vaccines triggered her condition through mechanisms like molecular mimicry and inflammasome activation. Respondent's experts, a neurologist and an immunologist, contested the diagnosis, suggesting a post-infectious myelitis was more likely, and argued that the proposed vaccine causation theories were not supported by sufficient scientific evidence.

The court found that Petitioner failed to prove by a preponderance of the evidence that the vaccines caused her condition, noting the presence of concurrent illness and the lack of robust scientific support for the proposed causal mechanisms. The petition was denied.