Margaret Achanzar v. HHS - HPV, SIRVA and/or axillary nerve mononeuropathy/significant aggravation of shoulder injury (2024)
Case summary [AI summaries can sometimes make mistakes]
On October 20, 2021, Margaret Achanzar filed a petition alleging injury after an HPV vaccination administered on October 21, 2019. Her theory evolved during the case.
By July 2023, she alleged a Table SIRVA and, in the alternative, axillary nerve mononeuropathy or significant aggravation of a shoulder injury caused-in-fact by the vaccination. Respondent opposed compensation, disputing the SIRVA requirements for onset, reduced range of motion, the six-month severity element, and the absence of another explanation for the symptoms.
Ms. Achanzar maintained that the injection injured her left shoulder and that a neurologic injury helped explain why the case did not fit neatly into the Table SIRVA framework.
On November 25, 2024, Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran dismissed only the Table SIRVA claim.
He concluded that Ms. Achanzar could not establish the regulatory requirements for Table SIRVA, including persistence of a qualifying musculoskeletal injury for six months and the absence of confounding neurologic abnormalities.
But he also found the off-Table axillary-nerve/significant-aggravation theory tenable and reassigned the case for further development. Special Master Thomas L.
Gowen later awarded interim attorney's fees and costs on February 27, 2026; that interim fee award was not injury compensation and the merits remained unresolved in the reviewed public decisions.