SIRVA

Each year, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) choose the specific strains to be targeted with the annual flu shot based upon an examination of thousands of influenza virus samples collected from patients worldwide. The selection process is not easy, and the challenges involved in choosing the most-effective formulation of the flu vaccine in any given year are largely to blame for the flu shot’s limited effectiveness in recent years.

Now, however, scientists may have found a more-effective way to choose vaccines for future seasons. Using new “HINT” technology, scientists believe that it may now be possible to better identify the flu strains that most likely to infect people year to year.

We have previously discussed the rising prevalence of National Vaccine Injury Compensation Program (VICP) claims involving shoulder injuries related to vaccine administration (SIRVA). Now, a report from Washington D.C. NBC affiliate News 4 reveals that, “half of all the new [VICP] cases allege ‘shoulder injury resulting from vaccine administration,’ or SIRVA, and have little or nothing to do with what was in the syringe.”

“SIRVA,” or “shoulder injuries related to vaccine administration,” describes a set of injuries that are linked to errors during the vaccine injection process. These injuries are entirely unrelated to the ingredients of the vaccines being injected; instead, they result from improper administration such as inserting the needle too high on the arm or too deep into the shoulder.