Papers of the Week

Shoulder injury from vaccination was approved for automatic compensation from the Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP)-a federal government program started in 1988 to shield the manufacturers of childhood vaccines from liability. The approval was made on the basis of case reports rather than experimental evidence. This, combined with the addition of influenza vaccination to the VICP in 2005 (which broadened coverage to include adults) and other social factors, was associated with a rapid rise in the number of claims of shoulder injury from vaccination over the last decade, which now account for more than half of all claims to the VICP. Given the high prevalence of newly symptomatic sources of shoulder pain such as rotator cuff tendinopathy, combined with the high prevalence of annual influenza vaccinations, there is a substantial risk of overlap leading to the post hoc ergo propter hoc fallacy ("after this, therefore because of this") contributing to misdiagnosis and inappropriate management of patients that perceive injury from vaccination. Records of medical care after a large number of vaccinations have a good chance of detecting serious shoulder pathology, even it is uncommon, which would result in an increased prevalence of visits for shoulder problems and specific types of shoulder pathology.