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Wisconsin pharmacist Steven Brandenburg, 46, was booked Thursday on the same charges.
A Wisconsin pharmacist working at the Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton deliberately removed 57 vials of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine from a refrigerator and left them outside overnight knowing the vaccines would be ‘useless’ for those who received them.
57 people received the vaccine from the tampered vials at the hospital on December 26 before a further review threw them in the trash and began an investigation into how the vials were left.
The Aurora Hospital later informed the police and Grafton, and on Thursday the pharmacist was arrested.
The FBI and the US Food and Drug Administration are now investigating as well.
The male health worker has not been officially named. A list of inmates at the Ozaukee County Jail shows that Steven Brandenburg, 46, was booked Thursday on the same charges.
Brandenburg is also listed as a licensed pharmacist in Wisconsin.
According to Grafton, the pharmacist intentionally removed the vials overnight on Christmas Eve, with the intention of destroying their effectiveness and making the people who received them think they had been properly vaccinated when they had not.
Then he put the vials back in the fridge on Christmas morning. Then a technician reported the actions to his superiors.
Currently, the motive for such behavior is unknown and law enforcement agencies are trying to establish what triggered Brandenburg into such antisocial behavior.
According to Aurora, there is no other evidence to suggest that other doses of vaccine have been tampered with.
Those who received the vaccine from the tampered vials have been notified and the company is working with Moderna and the FDA on a strategy to properly vaccinate those people; however, there should be no negative effects from receiving ineffective vaccines.
Police arrested a Wisconsin pharmacist accused of deliberately spoiling 57 vials of Moderna vaccine by removing them from a refrigerator and leaving them outside overnight before 57 people were administered the ‘ineffective’ dose. Aurora Medical Center in Grafton
On Thursday, police arrested Brandenburg on first-degree charges, recklessly endangering security, tampering with a prescription drug and damaging property. He is listed as a pharmacist, although the police have not officially named him.
The value of spoiled vaccines is estimated to be around $ 8,000 to $ 11,000.
Dr. Jeff Bahr, president of Aurora Health Care Medical Group in Wisconsin, said Thursday that the culprit had not only removed the vials from the refrigerator overnight on Friday as initially thought, but had also done so Thursday. at night, returning them to the refrigerator the next morning. Before anyone knew it
The network reached out to the suspect when a pharmaceutical technician discovered the vials outside the fridge on Saturday morning.
Because hospital officials were unaware that they had also been left out the night before, some of the doses are presumed fine and given to 57 people before the rest were discarded.
The medical center originally thought the doses were ‘inadvertently pulled from a pharmacy refrigerator overnight’ but on Wednesday said the culprit had acted ‘intentionally’ and fired him, while Grafton Police and the FBI launched a investigation.
Bahr held a press conference via Zoom on Thursday where he revealed that the culprit was a hospital pharmacist and elaborated on the saga.
He said a pharmacy technician first discovered that 57 vials of Moderna vaccine had been left out of the refrigerator in which they were stored in the early hours of Saturday.
The technician returned the vials to the refrigerator and reported the incident to his superiors.
Bahr said the responsible pharmacist initially claimed that they had simply made an ‘inadvertent mistake’ by leaving them out of the refrigerator when they were accessing other items in the same unit.
The vaccine can be kept out of the refrigerator for up to 12 hours before it becomes ineffective.
Based on the belief that the removal was accidental and that the vials had been out of the refrigerator for less than that time, the hospital’s clinical leaders ‘determined that the vaccines could still be administered’ that morning.
A total of 57 people received their first dose of the Moderna vaccine on the morning of December 26 at Aurora Medical Center Grafton.
The rest of the vials were discarded after “becoming ineffective”.
Dr. Jeff Bahr, president of Aurora Health Care Medical Group in Wisconsin, revealed Thursday that the perpetrator of the destruction had not only taken the vials out of the refrigerator overnight on Friday as first thought, but also had. had made the night before, before putting them back in the fridge before they got caught
But after an internal review, hospital staff became “increasingly suspicious” of the pharmacist’s behavior over the next few days, according to Bahr.
He was suspended before finally admitting ‘after multiple interviews’ that he ‘intentionally removed’ the vials from the refrigerator.
The pharmacist also admitted that he had taken the vials out of the fridge and left them out overnight on Thursday, but had returned them to the fridge on Friday morning before anyone saw them.
This meant that the vials were actually ineffective or ineffective, Bahr said.
Bahr insisted there is “no evidence” that the ineffective doses may have harmed the people who were given them and the hospital is working with Moderna to formulate a plan on how those affected can safely receive an effective dose.
“All 57 have been notified,” Bahr said.
“There is no evidence that vaccines have caused them any harm other than being potentially less effective or ineffective.
Moderna assured us that there are no safety concerns with administering a vaccine that has been out of the refrigerator too long. We will partner with them and the FDA to devise a strategy on future vaccination of the 57 affected people. “
The head of the hospital also said he is confident that no bottle other than 57 has gone bad because the hospital had not received any doses before the day in question.
There is also “no evidence” that he altered the vaccine in any way other than by removing it from the refrigerator, Bahr said, as he sought to reassure people that he was a “bad actor and not a bad process.”
Grafton police said the former employee of the Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton was arrested Thursday afternoon on first-degree charges, reckless endangering of safety, tampering with a prescription drug and criminal damage to property.
Police and federal authorities launched an investigation Wednesday after the Wisconsin health system said the employee had 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 Wednesday that the vaccine doses were deliberately spoiled.
In a statement Wednesday night, 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.
‘We continue to believe that vaccination is our way out of the pandemic. We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions resulted in a delay of more than 500 people in receiving his vaccine, ”the statement said.
Police and federal authorities launched an investigation Wednesday.
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.
