Welcome to the Spring roundup of the latest news, articles, and information about Shoulder Injury Related to Vaccine Administration (SIRVA). It has been a busy quarter.
Update: The proposed change to the Vaccine Injury Table is now up for public comment at regulations.gov (July 20, 2020 – January 21, 2021). Please read the post(s) below for background information, and then go to: https://www.regulations.gov/document?D=HRSA-2020-0002-0001 to submit a public comment. This is so important for everyone to comment on! THANK YOU!
First, if you saw my last post or heard elsewhere about the proposed action by the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) to remove SIRVA from the Vaccine Injury Table [pdf], the committee tasked with reviewing changes to the Table held a public meeting on May 18, 2020 to discuss the HHS proposal. Information and presentation materials from the meeting are posted here. I gave a 10-minute presentation during the public comment period that included my own SIRVA story and some results from the SIRVA Survey (aka “the Sirvey”), and hoped to explain why it means that I oppose the removal of SIRVA from the Vaccine Injury Table. However, the allotted 10 minutes went by fast and I ran out of time! In any case, my presentation materials are here [pdf] if you want to see them.
The comments at the meeting were overwhelmingly in opposition to the proposed change to remove SIRVA from the table, and at the end of the the meeting, after debate among the committee members, the four members present unanimously voted “no” for their recommendation on the proposed change. Their reasons for voting “no” varied, but the outcome is great news. The HHS does not have to abide by the committee’s recommendation, and could still act in defiance of the recommendation to remove SIRVA from the table, but according to Leah Durant, PLLC, they have never previously done so.
In case you missed it, NBC4 Washington had good coverage of the issue before the meeting (here), and after (here).
New SIRVA Research
Two SIRVA case studies with teres minor tendon injury (similar to my own injury):
Natanzi et al. 2020, Teres minor injury related to vaccine administration
This isn’t new, but the first time I’ve seen it:
Neat video interview with an MD in front of her research poster on a SIRVA case
This isn’t about SIRVA specifically, but trials on an influenza vaccine patch are promising and, as mentioned by Dr. Cody Meissner during the public meeting described above, could go a long way towards drastically reducing SIRVA cases (~75% of which are from flu shots, according to the Sirvey):
Thompson et al. 2020, An opportunity to incentivize innovation to increase vaccine safety in the United States by improving vaccine delivery using vaccine patches
Fairly unrelated, but in a paper about a Canadian study regarding training pharmacists using computer-based education, it mentions a “SIRVA module” in the training, which is great:
[pdf] Grindrod et al. 2020, Assessing Performance and Engagement on a Computer-Based Education Platform for Pharmacy Practice
That’s all I’ve found for Spring 2020 SIRVA news. Please let me know if you have anything else!
