Pharmacist arrested, accused of ruining COVID vaccine doses



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Police said they arrested a pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital on Thursday on suspicion of sabotaging more than 500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The pharmacist is accused of having intentionally removed them from the refrigeration in order for them to spoil.

Some of the doses in question were administered before hospital officials determined that drugs manufactured by Moderna had not been refrigerated long enough to make them ineffective. The remaining doses were discarded.

The pharmacist, who has not been publicly identified, worked at Aurora Medical Center in the Milwaukee suburb of Grafton. Aurora Health Care medical group president Dr Jeff Bahr said Moderna assured the hospital that those doses removed from the refrigeration posed no safety concerns for those who received an injection.

“Importantly, there is no evidence that the individual in question tampered with the vaccine in any way other than taking it out of the refrigeration, which led to what is known as denaturing the vaccine.”

When the lost vials were found on December 26, the pharmacist said it was an inadvertent mistake. But hospital officials said he admitted on Wednesday that he intentionally removed the vaccine from the cold room.

Neither Aurora Health nor law enforcement offered a possible motive for the sabotage.

Video transcript

Police said they arrested a pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital on Thursday on suspicion of sabotaging more than 500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine. The pharmacist is accused of having intentionally removed them from the refrigeration in order for them to spoil. Some of the doses in question were administered before hospital officials determined that drugs manufactured by Moderna had not been refrigerated long enough to make them ineffective. The remaining doses were discarded.

The pharmacist, who has not been publicly identified, worked at Aurora Medical Center in the Milwaukee suburb of Grafton. Aurora Health Care medical group president Dr Jeff Bahr said Moderna assured the hospital that those doses removed from the refrigeration posed no safety concerns for those who received an injection.

JEFF BAHR: Importantly, there is no evidence that the person in question has tampered with the vaccine in any way other than removing it from the refrigeration, leading to what is called denaturation of the vaccine.

When the lost vials were found on December 26, the pharmacist said it was an inadvertent mistake, but hospital officials said he admitted on Wednesday that he intentionally removed the vaccine from the hospital. cold room. Neither Aurora Health nor law enforcement officials have offered a possible motive for the sabotage.

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