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Vaccine Injury Blog

Legal Disclaimer: This blog is not intended to diagnose, treat or cure a disease. Nor is it intended as medical advice. The reader is responsible for their decisions and their health.

  • Writer's pictureDavid Tierney

How Much Money Has Been Paid in SIRVA Lawsuits?

Vaccines are not only incredibly safe, they are essential to prevent deadly and disabling diseases. However, adverse effects and injuries can, and do, happen. One of the most common injuries related to vaccines has almost nothing to do with the vaccines themselves. It's called a Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration or SIRVA. Whenever a healthcare provider administering the vaccine does so incorrectly and accidentally injures your shoulder, this is called a SIRVA. Typically, minor pain may follow any injection. If, however, that pain is extreme and does not go away within a few days, that may be a SIRVA. A SIRVA is extremely painful and can be disabling and can often last for months or years.


Fortunately, there is a government program which provides compensation to those who experience a SIRVA. This program is called the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program or VICP. The VICP regularly pays money to compensate victims of vaccine injuries like SIRVA. The money comes from a victim compensation fund that is funded by vaccine manufacturers. The amount that is paid for vaccine injuries is listed in a public report which you can find online here: https://www.hrsa.gov/vaccine-compensation/data/index.html


This report lists the compensation which has been paid for each covered vaccine, but it does not identify what injury the compensation was for. Was it for an allergic reaction? Was it for a SIRVA? Though the VICP does not publish how much money has been distributed to compensate SIRVA victims, the total amount of money that VICP has paid to all victims of any vaccine injury since 1989 is almost four billion dollars. In 2018 alone, the program paid out just under two hundred million dollars.


If you have a SIRVA, how much money could you receive in compensation? That’s hard to say. Each case is different, of course, and VICP takes into consideration any lost work and income, and any medical expenses a victim may have incurred, as well as the pain and the difficulties with daily living activities that a SIRVA causes. If you believe you have a SIRVA, there are definite deadlines and not all vaccines are covered, so it is important that you contact an attorney experienced with the VICP as soon as possible to see if you might be eligible for compensation.

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