The villain of the year: pharmacist arrested for spoiling hundreds of doses of covid 19 vaccines

Authorities on Thursday arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist suspected of deliberately spoiling hundreds of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine by taking them out of the refrigerator for two nights.

The Grafton Police Department said the former Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of putting others at risk, tampering with a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.

The department said in a press release that the detainee was in jail.

Police did not identify the pharmacist, as he has not yet been formally charged with the crime of spoiling vaccines.

57 spoiled vaccine vials

Advocate Aurora Health Medical Director Jeff Bahr told reporters during a teleconference Thursday afternoon that the pharmacist deliberately removed 57 vials of Moderna’s vaccine from refrigeration overnight from December 24 to 25, returned them, and then left them outside again the next night.

A pharmaceutical technician discovered the vaccine vials outside the refrigerator on Saturday morning, December 26. Workers used the vaccine to inoculate 57 people. Bahr said his doses were ineffective.