R.M.H. v. HHS - MMRV, acute autoimmune encephalitis (2025)

On October 21, 2021, Raizy and Chaim Halberstam, as parents of R.M.H., filed a petition alleging that their minor child suffered acute autoimmune encephalitis as a result of an October 21, 2018 MMRV vaccination. An amended petition filed on March 24, 2023, alleged that the autoimmune encephalitis was caused-in-fact by the October 21, 2018 MMRV vaccination and significantly aggravated by a subsequent August 28, 2019 Tdap vaccination.

Petitioners submitted medical records and an expert report from neurologist Yuval Shafrir, M.D. The respondent, the Secretary of Health and Human Services, filed competing medical opinions from neuroimmunologist Michael Kruer, M.D., and immunologist You-Wen He, M.D., Ph.D.

Special Master Daniel T. Horner issued a preliminary view on May 20, 2025, noting that Dr.

Shafrir's opinion did not adequately support the presence of autoimmune encephalitis and that petitioners would likely have difficulty proving entitlement. The Special Master stated that the proceedings strongly suggested petitioners would have a very difficult time developing the record with credible medical opinion and were unlikely to prevail.

On June 24, 2025, petitioners filed a motion to voluntarily dismiss their claim, acknowledging they would be unlikely to prove entitlement. Special Master Horner granted the motion, dismissing the petition for failure to establish a prima facie case of entitlement to compensation.

The public decision does not describe the onset, specific symptoms, diagnostic tests, treatments, or the mechanism of injury. Petitioner counsel was Renee J.

Gentry of the Vaccine Injury Clinic, George Washington University Law School. Respondent counsel was Ryan Pohlman Miller of the U.S.

Department of Justice. The case was dismissed without an award.