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

On October 15, 2021, Drusilla Pearson filed a petition alleging that she suffered a SIRVA after an influenza vaccination administered in her left arm at Costco Pharmacy on October 16, 2018, when she was 70 years old. She said the shot felt as if the technician had hit bone, that she woke that night in severe pain, and that her shoulder pain persisted for years.

Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran reviewed medical records and declarations to decide whether Ms.

Pearson could meet the Table requirement that shoulder pain begin within 48 hours. The records showed many medical encounters and messages in the year after vaccination, including ENT, primary-care, endocrine, cardiology, mammogram, and wellness visits, but no documented shoulder complaint until November 5, 2019, more than one year after the shot.

She then reported left shoulder pain since the flu shot and was assessed with subcoracoid impingement. By July 2021, she reported constant left arm pain and had decreased extension and pain with shoulder testing; a physical therapy history described waking the night after the shot in excruciating pain.

Ms. Pearson submitted declarations from herself, her domestic partner, and friends describing immediate or early pain.

The Special Master found those statements insufficient to overcome the long absence of contemporaneous medical complaints, especially because Ms. Pearson frequently sought care for other conditions.

On April 25, 2025, he found that she had not established Table onset and that the record did not support an off-Table causation claim. Ms.

Pearson then moved for dismissal, stating she could not prove entitlement. The case was dismissed on May 28, 2025, without compensation.