Age: 66.0
Sex: F
Vaccine: PPV
Symptoms: Injected limb mobility decreased, Injection site pain, Loss of employment, Loss of personal independence in daily activities, Magnetic resonance imaging abnormal
Clinical narrative: I got the vaccine at approximately 5:30 p.m. on 02/06/20 after work. By 11:00 p.m. that night, my upper arm was extremely sore. The pain increased throughout the night. By morning of Fri. 02/07, I was in excruciating pain in my upper arm, and I couldn't raise or move my arm. I was working part-time and thankfully wasn't scheduled to return to work until Tues. 02/11. I called pharmacy and spoke to the pharmacist who administered the vaccine. He said that the pain and immobilization were "normal" and insisted immediately that he couldn't possibly have done anything wrong because he had been giving vaccines for something like 40 years. I think he said to take some Tylenol for the pain. I called my  Primary Care Physician, M.D., and spoke his nurse, who spoke with Dr. and said to take some Tylenol and to call back if the pain didn't resolve within a few days and Dr. would prescribe an antibiotic. I din't understand what an antibiotic would have to do with the pain and immobilization I was having. I didn't have a fever and didn't have any infection symptoms--just severe pain in my upper arm and immobilization of my arm. I continued to take Tylenol (during the day) and Tylenol PM (in the evenings) throughout Fri. 10/07, Sat. 10/08, Sun. 10/09, and Mon. 10/10. The pain and immobilization were still very severe. I just wanted to be able to return to work on Tues. 10/11 a.m. I had just started that job in Nov. 2019. I didn't want to lose my job. It was extremely difficult getting dressed on Tues. a.m. 10/11. I had to get up two hours early to get out of my pajamas, get showered, and get dressed. When I got to work, I tried to hide the fact that I was injured. I was working part-time for a law firm doing data entry and paralegal work. I was able to make it through the next three days at work but I was in a lot of pain. Gradually, I was able to use my arm again but the pain never went away. On March 17, 2021, I was laid off from my job at the law firm  due to COVID-19. During the time that I was off work, I didn't get dressed and didn't go out, except for necessities. While I wasn't using my arm and during the time of resting it, I didn't notice the pain as much. Each time I saw Dr. or had a telephone conference with him during the pandemic, I mentioned the fact that my arm was still sore. He seemed to dismiss my complaints and said that he could refer me to physical therapy if I wanted to go. I wanted to know what was wrong with my arm. I didn't want to risk injuring it further in physical therapy without knowing what was wrong with it. When I began going out more after things started opening up again within the past few months, my arm began to hurt much more again. The pain increased the more I had to get dressed and use it. I was Dr. in his office again at that time and expressed my concerns again, at which time he again seemed to discmiss my complaints and mentioned physical therapy. At that time, Dr. had just recovered from the Delta variant of COVID-19, which he had contracted from a patient. He seemed to not want to focus on what I was trying to tell him about my arm. My physical activity and social activity involve dancing at a senior center and at some outdoor summer festivals. When I realized that I could no longer enjoy dancing the way I was able to before and that I had a definite injury to my arm, I researched the issue on-line. I discovered this site for reporting injuries relating to vaccine injuries. I don't understand why neither the pharmacist, pharmacy, nor Dr. reported the adverse affect that I had from his faccing. I called Dr. office in late September of this year to request an appointment to see if he could help with the pain I'm having. His assistant scheduled my appointment for Oct. 4 but stated that I would need an MRI of my shoulder. I called Dr. office to request an order for an MRI but was told that Dr. was on a personal leave. I was told to call back on September 27. When I called on September 27, I was told that Dr. had died. My new Primary Care Physician is Dr. , who I saw for the first time on October 12. His opinion of my shoulder injury was that the pharmacist probably injected the vaccine too high on my arm. Dr., who reviewed the MRI and X-ray results, said that I have a partial thickness rotator cuff tear. The tear is on the outside upper portion of my  arm on the shoulder, right where the vaccine needle would have been injected. Dr.  opinion was that if a vaccine administrator pushed the needle in too hard, pushing the skin in like an accordion, it could have torn through the tendon. My life has been completely disrupted by this injury. I've never had an injury of this extent, which has left me immobilized and which has required me to take pain medications. I'm unable to dance the way I used to and enjoy the social life that I had prior to this injury.