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Police announced on Thursday the arrest of a former worker at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin, accused of tampering with 570 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.
Officials have not named the ex-employee, a pharmacist, who was fired on Wednesday after allegedly admitting to deliberately removing 57 vials of COVID-19 vaccine from a refrigerator and then returning them.
But a list of inmates from the Ozaukee County Jail showed that a Steven Brandenburg was booked Thursday on charges of criminal damage to property and endangering safety, which police say the pharmacist in question is facing.
Brandenburg is also listed as a licensed pharmacist in state registers.
The suppressed doses, which may have been weakened outside of refrigeration, were given to 57 people before the error became apparent, officials said. People who took the affected doses have been notified and there is no indication that they were injured, hospital officials said at a press conference Thursday.
In a press release, Grafton Police said the pharmacist “intentionally removed the vaccines from the refrigerated warehouse and left them overnight, rendering about 570 doses of the vaccine” unnecessary “according to health officials. ” The former employee reportedly told investigators that he “knew that spoiled vaccinations would be unnecessary and that people who received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus when in fact they were not.”
The police are investigating the former pharmacist’s mobile and have not yet filed a complaint against him. He is currently being held on recommended charges of recklessly endangering first-degree security, tampering with a prescription drug, and criminal damage to property, all of which are felonies.
Aurora Health Care Medical Group is contacting vaccine manufacturer Moderna to determine the effect that lack of refrigeration may have on vaccine activity.
Savage plan to sabotage COVID vaccine is too frightening for some anti-Vaxxers
The hospital system in the COVID-ravaged state first revealed that 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine were left out of a refrigerator for more than 12 hours on December 26. At the time, Aurora had described it as the product of “unintentional human error,” indicating that an employee had removed the vaccines to reach something else in the refrigerator.
But on Wednesday night, the hospital changed its story, indicating that another exam indicated “intentional” destruction and that the employee had been fired.
Moderna vaccine can only survive for up to 12 hours outside of refrigeration, although it does not need the same level of cold storage as Pfizer vaccine.
The intentional sabotage allegation comes as Wisconsin remains in the throes of a catastrophic COVID-19 outbreak – and after state and federal officials expressed fears that vandals and anti-vaxxers could target doses .
Local police, along with the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration, reportedly assisted in the investigation. The FDA and FBI declined to comment on their involvement.
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