Covid 19 coronavirus: police investigate deliberate spoilage of 500 vaccine doses

U.S. police and federal authorities are investigating after a Wisconsin health system said an employee admitted to deliberately messing up 500 doses of the coronavirus vaccine.

Aurora Medical Center first reported that the doses had gone bad on Saturday, saying that an employee at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton accidentally left them unrefrigerated overnight.

The health system said it now appears that the vaccine doses have been deliberately spoiled.

Police in Grafton, a city 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said in a statement that the department, the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration are “actively” investigating.

Police said they were notified of the alleged tampering on Wednesday. Police later said no other information would be released immediately and declined to say whether any arrests had been made.

In a statement, Aurora said the employee involved “acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from the refrigerator.”

Aurora said she fired the employee and referred the matter to authorities. The statement said nothing about a possible motive for the action.

“We continue to believe that vaccination is our way out of the pandemic. We are beyond disappointed that this individual’s actions resulted in a delay of more than 500 people in receiving their vaccine,” the statement said.

Aurora said it would provide more information on Thursday.

The number of Covid-19 cases in Wisconsin continued to rise after falling in early December. The state Department of Health Services reported 3,810 new confirmed cases Thursday, marking the third consecutive day of increased daily infections. The state has seen 481,102 cases.

Covid-19 was a factor in 41 more deaths, bringing the state’s total death toll to 4,859. The survival rate was unchanged at 99 percent.

-AP