A couple files a shingles vaccination lawsuit alleging Merck’s vaccine caused the condition it was meant to prevent.

Plaintiffs Jerry and Bonnie R. file the shingles vaccination lawsuit in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania, joining a growing multidistrict litigation (MDL) against the vaccine manufacturer.

According to their shingles vaccination lawsuit, Jerry was inoculated with the Zostavax vaccine on or around Sept. 12. 2017, to prevent shingles. However, he says that shortly after receiving the vaccine, he suffered “right sided anterior shoulder pain and developed skin lesions in the anterior aspect of his shoulder.”

Jerry says he was soon diagnosed with herpes zoster, or shingles, the very condition that he was attempting to prevent.

Since then, he has allegedly “continued to suffer from recurrent herpes zoster and later diagnosed with post herpetic neuralgia and chronic pain.” As a result of these serious conditions, he says that he has experienced mental and emotional distress.

Overview: Shingles Vaccination Lawsuit

Jerry’s shingles vaccination lawsuit was filed on multiple counts including negligence, design and manufacturing defect, failure to warn, breach of express warranty, breach of implied warranty, negligent misrepresentation, unjust enrichment, punitive damages, and loss of consortium.

The couple requests a trial by jury. They are not alone in accusing Merck of negligence.

Thousands of lawsuits have been filed against Merck & Co., the makers of the first anti-herpes zoster or shingles vaccine, Zostavax. Plaintiffs seek to hold them responsible for their vaccine inducing shingles and in many cases other severe adverse side effects and complications.

After undergoing recovery from a chickenpox or varicella zoster infection, the virus stays dormant in the body. However, it can later crop up again and re-emerge as shingles if the person comes into contact with children who have been infected with chickenpox.

The vaccine itself is made up of a weakened chickenpox virus that aids the immune system to fight off any warning of shingles. However, lawsuits being filed against Merck contend that instead of protecting plaintiffs and victims receiving the vaccine of shingles from the infection, it causes them to develop repeated outbreaks of shingles.

Lawsuits have also claimed that patients have suffered serious injuries and other adverse side effects including headaches, blindness, joint or muscle pain, brain damage, paralysis, fatal liver failure, rashes, hives, nausea, and fever. More extreme side effects linked to the vaccine may also include:

• Myelitis (spinal cord inflammation)
• Postherpetic neuralgia (pain after shingles blisters pass)
• Vision problems (eye infections; retinal damage; blindness)
• Hearing loss
• Autoimmune disorders (Guillain-Barre Syndrome, Chronic Inflammatory Demyelinating, Meniere’s Disease, Polyneuropathy)
• Cardiovascular event, Stroke, or
• Congestive heart failure
• Pneumonia
• Bell’s Palsy (facial paralysis)
• Vasculitis
• Serious neurological disease/disorder

The Shingles Vaccination Lawsuit is Case No. 2:18-cv-05188-HB, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania. The Zostavaz MDL is In re: Zostavax (Zoster Vaccine Live) Products Liability Litigation, MDL No. 2848, in the U.S. District Court for the Eastern District of Pennsylvania.