Christine Vardaro v. HHS - Influenza, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2026)

Christine Vardaro filed a petition for compensation under the National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program, alleging she suffered a shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) following an influenza vaccine administered on October 13, 2020. She recalled her right shoulder aching the day after vaccination, but her pain worsened by the end of that week, making it difficult to move her arm.

Her first medical record of treatment was on November 18, 2020 (36 days post-vaccination), where she reported shoulder pain that began one week after the flu shot. Subsequent medical records also linked her pain to the vaccination, but none affirmatively established symptoms within 48 hours of vaccination.

The court found that while Petitioner's witness statements supported a claim of onset, they were not sufficient to overcome the contemporaneous medical records indicating onset outside the 48-hour window required for a Table SIRVA claim. Consequently, the court dismissed Christine Vardaro's Table SIRVA claim for failure to prove timely onset, but noted she might have a viable causation-in-fact claim to be adjudicated.