[ad_1]
Authorities today arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist suspected of deliberately ruining hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing them from the refrigerator for two nights.
Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin. Source: Associated Press
The arrest marks another setback in what has been a slower and messier start to vaccinating Americans than public health officials expected.
Leaders in Wisconsin and other states have been asking the Trump administration for more doses as healthcare workers and seniors line up for the life-saving vaccine.
Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said the Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless endangering, tampering with a prescription drug and damaging property – all felonies.
The pharmacist was fired and police said in a press release that he was in jail. Police did not identify the pharmacist and said he has not yet been formally charged.
His motive remains unclear. Police said detectives believe he knew the damaged doses would be useless and that the people who received them would mistakenly think they had been vaccinated when they had not.
Advocate Aurora Health Care Medical Group Director Jeff Bahr told reporters during a teleconference today that the pharmacist deliberately removed 57 vials containing hundreds of doses of the Modern vaccine from refrigeration at a Grafton medical center overnight. from December 24 to 25 (local time). , returned them and then left them outside again on the night of December 25 to Saturday. The vials contained enough doses to inoculate 570 people.
A pharmacy technician discovered the vials outside the refrigerator in the morning.
Your playlist will load after this announcement.
The vice president-elect’s live vaccination was part of a growing effort to convince the American public that vaccines are safe. Source: Associated Press
Bahr said the pharmacist initially said he had removed the vials to access other items in the refrigerator and did not inadvertently return them.
The Moderna vaccine is viable for 12 hours out of refrigeration, so workers used the vaccine to inoculate 57 people before discarding the rest.
Police said the discarded doses were worth between US $ 8,000 (NZ $ 11,100) and US $ 11,000 (NZ $ 15,300).
Bahr said health system officials became more suspicious of the pharmacist as they reviewed the incident.
After multiple interviews, the pharmacist acknowledged that he intentionally removed the vaccine during the two nights, Bahr said.
That means some people’s doses are practically useless, he said.
Moderna has told Aurora that there are no safety concerns, but that the hospital system is closely monitoring people who received the spoiled doses, she said.
Your playlist will load after this announcement.
The Director General, Dr. Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, wants equitable access to the vaccine. Source: Associated Press
Bahr declined to comment on the pharmacist’s motive. He said the hospital system’s security protocols are strong.
“This was a situation that involved a bad actor,” he said, “as opposed to a bad process.”
The number of Covid-19 cases in Wisconsin has risen in recent days after falling in early December.
The state Department of Health Services reported 3,810 new confirmed cases today, 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.
Just over 47,150 people had been vaccinated in Wisconsin earlier in the week, according to the latest data from the health agency. The state has been assigned 265,575 doses of Moderna and Pfizer vaccines.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wrote a letter to President Donald Trump in early December asking him to prioritize more doses for Wisconsin due to the high number of cases, crowded hospitals and the lack of mitigation mandates across the state.
Your playlist will load after this announcement.
Biden took a dose of the Pfizer vaccine at a hospital not far from his home in Delaware. Source: Reuters
