Donna L. Clark v. HHS - Influenza, right shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) (2025)

On October 11, 2022, Donna L. Clark filed a petition seeking compensation for a right shoulder injury related to an influenza vaccination administered at CVS on October 10, 2019.

She was nearly 58 years old and worked around nursing-home patients. The vaccination record listed the left deltoid, but Ms.

Clark consistently sought care for the right shoulder. On October 28, 2019, she told her primary-care provider that the shot had been given in her right shoulder and that the pain began right after vaccination, became progressively achy, interfered with movement and sleep, and limited abduction and extension to about 90 degrees.

Prednisone helped. Orthopedic examination two days later showed positive Neer and Hawkins maneuvers and findings consistent with rotator-cuff inflammation or a local vaccine reaction.

When the pain returned, an MRI showed supraspinatus and infraspinatus tendinopathy with edema and bursal fluid but no tear. She underwent physical therapy and received a subacromial steroid injection.

Her treatment records described pain with overhead movement, sleeping, sweeping, vacuuming, and repetitive work, with eventual resolution by about September 2020. Chief Special Master Corcoran credited the medical records over the later-corrected pharmacy notation and found it more likely than not that the vaccine was administered in the right arm.

He concluded that Ms. Clark satisfied the Table SIRVA requirements: no relevant prior right shoulder condition, onset within 48 hours, symptoms confined to the vaccinated shoulder, and residual effects lasting more than six months.

On September 10, 2025, the Chief Special Master awarded $60,000.00 for past pain and suffering. He characterized the injury as relatively mild, conservatively treated, and resolved in about eleven and a half months.

Ms. Clark was represented by Steven K.

Jambois.