Steven Brandenburg: 5 Quick Facts You Need To Know

Steven Brandenburg is the Grafton, Wisconsin pharmacist accused of tampering with COVID-19 vaccine doses, prison records show.

Brandenburg was booked into the Ozaukee County Jail, located in a suburban area near Milwaukee, Wisconsin, on potential charges of criminal damage to property and reckless endangering second degree security. He is described in prison records as a 46-year-old white male. No deposit amount is indicated. The custody date is December 31, 2020.

Police described a bizarre scenario in which the pharmacist is accused of tampering with vaccines to make them useless before they are given to people.

“Grafton detectives indicate that the individual knew that the spoiled vaccinations would be unnecessary and that people who had received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus when in fact they were not,” said said a police press release.

Here is the reservation form:

Here’s what you need to know:

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1. Grafton police accuse pharmacist of intentionally destroying 57 vials containing 570 doses of COVID-19 vaccine

The Grafton, Wisconsin Police Department wrote in a December 31 press release that they had arrested a pharmacist for “intentionally destroying several vials of COVID-19 vaccine at the Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton” .

The statement said a former employee of Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton was arrested on the afternoon of December 31 for “tampering and destroying 57 vials containing approximately 570 doses of the new coronavirus vaccine.”

Grafton Police were called to Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton on December 30 on a report that a former pharmacy employee intentionally removed the vaccines from the refrigerated warehouse and left them overnight, making approximately 570 doses of the “unnecessary” vaccine, medical professionals say. Grafton Police immediately began investigating to determine a motive and what criminal charges, if any, could be laid.

No criminal charges had been filed as of January 21, 2021. The president of Aurora said it was a “situation involving a bad actor, not a bad process”.

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2. Aurora Health initially described the incident as an accident; Brandenburg has a valid pharmacist license in the state of Wisconsin

According to records from the Wisconsin Department of Safety and Professional Services, Steven R. Brandenburg is a licensed pharmacist. Its location is given as Saukville, Wisconsin, and its accreditation license is current. It was granted on August 22, 1997 and has been listed as valid until May 31, 2022. It is listed as meeting all requirements and not having any orders under its license.

Police said the investigation revealed that a former pharmacist, a resident of Grafton, “pulled the vials out of the cold storage knowing they would not be usable.” Aurora’s preliminary investigation into the incident, which was originally reported in the news on Saturday, December 26, 2020, determined the incident to be accidental.

However, after receiving additional information, Aurora Health’s public safety sector “began to delve deeper into the incident and discovered that the vials were intentionally removed by the pharmacist.” In a written statement to public safety officials at Aurora Health, the former employee admitted to intentionally withdrawing the vaccine knowing that if it was not stored properly, the vaccine would be ineffective, ”police said.

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3. The patients did receive the vials but were not injured, the statement said; The pharmacist is in the middle of a divorce

The statement said that Grafton Police detectives noted that all 57 doses of the vaccine had been distributed to patients, but, according to Aurora health officials, they said there was no problem with the vaccine. health related to spoiled doses. The doses are effectively “unnecessary”.

The value of the damaged doses has been estimated between $ 8,000 and $ 11,000.

Police arrested the employee on recommended charges of reckless endangering first degree safety (Class F felony), falsifying a prescription drug (Class H felony) and criminal damage to property (class I crime). However, not all of these charges are listed in the prison records.

Aurora Health claims to have administered over 23,000 frontline team members. The president of the company told a virtual press conference that there was no evidence that the vaccines already given made patients unsafe.
WISN-TV reported that its reporters tried to speak with Brandenburg’s “ex-wife”, but she declined to comment.

“(I watched them) take him handcuffed. He was at the back of the team, ”Darlene Scow, who lives on her street, told WISN. “My reaction is that I hope he stays seated for a long time, because there are people who should have been vaccinated and what if they get the virus now? It’s horrible that someone is doing it on purpose, doing it on purpose.

Wisconsin court records show the pharmacist’s wife is the petitioner in a pending divorce filed in June. Records indicate that minor children are involved in the divorce. The parties “ask to bypass mediation and have a LAG appointed,” the files indicate, referring to a guardian Ad Litem, a lawyer representing the children, who was subsequently appointed. In November, court records indicate that there was an emergency request from the Brandenburg lawyer, which the lawyer for the Brandenburg ex-wife objected to. “Court issues order staying placement due to COVID,” the records say, though they don’t explain further.

In 2004, Brandenburg was the petitioner for a previous divorce.

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4. Wisconsin had administered more than 47,000 vaccines, but this is only part of those attributed to the state.

As of December 29, according to the latest statistics available, the state of Wisconsin has received 265,575 COVID-19 vaccines from the federal government. Of these, 156,875 were shipped and 47,157 administered, according to state statistics. The number of vaccines administered decreased during Christmas week.

Wisconsin has seen a huge spike in COVID-19 cases, with more than 480,000 confirmed cases. More than 2.8 million people have been tested. Ninety-three percent of people have recovered and there are over 28,000 active cases.

According to state statistics, 1% of people died, or 4,859 people. More than 21,000 have already been hospitalized. This represents 4.4% of the total.

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5. The motive is unclear, but officials say Brandenburg has admitted to removing the vaccine from refrigeration

Authorities have not disclosed the reason for the alleged forgery.

Aurora Health President Dr Jeffrey Bahr said in a virtual press conference: “On Saturday December 26, early in the morning, one of our pharmacy technicians discovered what turned out to be 57 vials of Moderna vaccine, enough for about 570 doses outdoors. the refrigerator in which these vials were stored. “

He said: “We are unable to make judgments on the motive at the moment,” saying the authorities have looked into this in their investigation.

The vaccine vials “were put back in the refrigerator” and the technician reported the incident. The pharmacist alleged that it was an “inadvertent error” at the start. They later determined that the vaccine “could still be administered” because it had a 12 hour viability period.

An internal review continued.

He added: “Over the next few days, as we continued our internal review, we became increasingly suspicious of the behavior of the individual in question. The individual was suspended and after multiple interviews during the week admitted yesterday to voluntarily removing the vaccine from the refrigeration.

All 57 vaccinations were made less effective or ineffective. These 57 people have been notified. “The vaccination program here remains safe and essential to get us out of the pandemic,” Bahr said, indicating that it was now a matter of law enforcement.

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