Department of Health and Human Services Aims to Remove SIRVA from the Vaccine Injury Table

The term SIRVA is short for a Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration. SIRVA injuries can be devastating, with painful and sometimes life-altering symptoms that never go away. Unlike other vaccine injuries, SIRVA is triggered by the needle being administered too high on the shoulder.

If you have a SIRVA injury, you may need surgery. Even then, you may never recover entirely.

SIRVA was added to the Vaccine Injury Table in 2017

Before 2017, SIRVA was not included on the Vaccine Injury Table in the National Vaccine Compensation Program (VICP). Anyone who was injured by a misplaced needle could not file a petition under the VICP.

In February of 2017, Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration was added for every vaccine on the Table, along with Guillain Barre Syndrome. Since then, SIRVA has been the most commonly alleged vaccine injury in the VICP.

In fact, SIRVA accounted for over 50% of the vaccine injuries in the total filed petitions in both 2018 and 2019.

The HHS wants to remove SIRVA from the VICP

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) wants to change that. Recently, the HHS submitted a proposal to remove SIRVA from the Vaccine Injury Table—and possibly from the VICP entirely.

The HHS claims that a SIRVA injury does not fit with the rest of the program. The Department argues that SIRVA injuries result from a misplaced needle. Therefore, the vaccine didn’t cause the SIRVA injury—another party is responsible.

How would removing SIRVA from the Table impact the U.S. legal system?

If the HHS was successful, SIRVA petitioners would be impacted. They would otherwise have successful cases with the VICP. Additionally, the HHS’s removal of SIRVA could remove the “no-fault” VICP system to SIRVA victims.

Instead of filing a case with the VICP, SIRVA victims would sue nurses, doctors and pharmacists from the neighborhood Walgreens to giant hospital systems. For many reasons, this move conflicts with the stated goals of the VICP program:

1. When the government passed the Act in 1986, it intended to prevent those injured by vaccines from suing manufacturers of those vaccines, as well as nurses, doctors, pharmacies, and hospitals in civil court.
   
   If the HHS removed the most common vaccine injury from the Table, SIRVA victims would file suit in civil court. This could potentially lead to pharmaceutical companies or healthcare professionals to stop producing vaccines or administering vaccines to avoid liability.
   
2. The VICP was meant to be a venue where vaccine injury victims had an expedited path to compensation for a rare injury. Our office has handled medical malpractice claims. Medical malpractice lawsuits can take years in civil court, and they are often such an expensive undertaking.
   
   Many lawyers will pass on medical malpractice cases even if there is a clear liability. Removing SIRVA from the Vaccine Injury Table or from the VICP will effectively deny vaccine-injured petitioners from any compensation at all.

HHS’s proposed removal is not back by science

The HHS’s proposed removal of SIRVA is not backed by the HHS’s own scientists and the National Academy of Medicine. The HHS argues that a SIRVA injury is caused by a misplaced needle.

However, a SIRVA injury is not only caused by a misplaced needle. The components of the vaccine can cause inflammation to the shoulder joint.  In this peer-reviewed medical article, HHS employees discuss SIRVA injuries and what causes them.

There are also procedural concerns. A few weeks before the March 6, 2020 meeting, a copy of the HHS’s proposal was given to the Advisory Commission on Childhood Vaccines (ACCV). The ACCV is an organization that advises the HHS secretary on VICP matters.

As vaccine injury lawyers, we will continue to update you on this issue

The HHS told the ACCV members that they would only have 90 days, or until May 21, 2020, to provide feedback to the HHS Secretary on the proposal to remove SIRVA. This short deadline makes the proposed change more likely to pass without a more thorough review process.

We will continue to monitor the HHS’s proposal in the upcoming weeks. Much will change between now and May 21st. From our perspective, removing SIRVA from the Table will cause many people with legitimate SIRVA injuries to not receive compensation.

Eventually, fewer people will receive vaccines at all. For the sake of our current clients and the health of the general public, we hope that the HHS’s proposal fails.