Lucille Abshire v. HHS - Influenza, shoulder injury related to vaccine administration (SIRVA) and possible off-Table shoulder/arm injury (2026)

On November 8, 2022, Lucille Abshire filed a petition alleging that an influenza vaccination administered on October 9, 2020 caused a shoulder injury related to vaccine administration. The case later focused on whether she had proven the specific Vaccine Injury Table definition of SIRVA.

Chief Special Master Brian H. Corcoran reviewed the contemporaneous medical record.

The evidence supported some shoulder symptoms after vaccination, but it also included objective forearm swelling, elbow complaints, and imaging findings that did not fit neatly within the Table's requirement that pain and reduced range of motion be limited to the vaccinated shoulder. Respondent argued that the record did not prove a Table SIRVA.

On April 24, 2025, Chief Special Master Corcoran dismissed the Table SIRVA theory. He did not enter a final denial of every possible theory; instead, he concluded that Ms.

Abshire's off-Table causation claim could continue outside the Special Processing Unit. The case was later reassigned to Special Master Christian J.

Moran. Ms.

Abshire died while the case was pending, and Brenda Rogers continued it as administrator of her estate. Respondent denied that the vaccine caused the injury, but the parties filed a joint stipulation on February 17, 2026, and in an Unpublished Decision filed March 3, 2026 Special Master Moran adopted it, awarding a lump sum of $20,000.00 for all damages.