Elizabeth Bedson v. HHS - Pneumococcal, left shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2025)

On October 21, 2021, Elizabeth Bedson filed a petition alleging that she suffered a left shoulder injury related to vaccine administration after receiving a pneumococcal 13-valent conjugate vaccine, also called PCV-13 or Prevnar, on July 17, 2020. The case did not resolve by settlement, so the parties briefed entitlement and damages and later argued the matter at an expedited Motions Day hearing.

Respondent contested the Table SIRVA onset requirement, emphasizing that Ms. Bedson did not report or seek treatment for left arm pain until September 3, 2020, forty-eight days after vaccination, despite intervening ENT visits.

Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran found the delay did not defeat entitlement.

He credited the March 4, 2021 physical therapy intake record, which listed onset as July 17, 2020 and stated that after the Prevnar injection she had the usual aching pain that evening, with progressive worsening and weakness. He also found the record did not show a prior left shoulder condition or another explanation for the symptoms.

The Special Master also found that Ms. Bedson met the six-month severity requirement.

Her symptoms began as mild aching, progressed, and waxed and waned with ibuprofen and later treatment. The gaps in treatment affected the amount of damages more than entitlement.

On September 4, 2025, the Special Master found Ms. Bedson entitled to compensation for a Table SIRVA and awarded $55,000.00 for actual pain and suffering.

He described the injury as relatively mild, noting conservative treatment, treatment gaps, Voltaren helping most pain by early March 2021, and symptoms that were almost exclusively mild after that point. A March 23, 2026 fees decision later awarded attorneys' fees and costs separately, with a reduction for excessive briefing time, but that fee award was not vaccine-injury compensation.