A pharmacist at a hospital in Wisconsin has been arrested and accused of deliberately removing more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine from the refrigerator last week, knowing that the vaccines would be useless and that the people receiving them would think they would be protected from the virus if they were not, police in Grafton, Wisconsin, said Thursday.
The hospital administered several doses before realizing it was spoiled.
The pharmacist, a man for whom the police do not give a name, was arrested on recommended charges of first-degree reckless threat to safety, violation of a prescription drug and criminal property damage. He is being held in the Ozaukee County Jail.
It was not clear what his motive might be. The Grafton Police Department is investigating the incident along with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the Food and Drug Administration, the department said.
The hospital system, Advocate Aurora Health, has given divergent reports of what has happened since it was first discovered on December 26 that the vaccines had been removed from the refrigerator overnight.
First, it is said that the doses were accidentally taken out. Then it said on Wednesday that the pharmacist admitted that he had intentionally removed the vials. Jeff Bahr, president of Aurora Health Care Medical Group, said in a video call with reporters on Thursday that the pharmacist admitted that he had taken the vials out of the fridge two consecutive nights – Christmas Eve and Christmas Day – and that the hospital 57 of the doses administered before realizing how long it was at room temperature.
Dr Bahr said there was no evidence that the pharmacist had hampered the vaccine in any other way than taking it out of the fridge, and that the pharmacist was no longer employed by the hospital system.
Dr Bahr said the hospital had consulted with Moderna, the pharmaceutical company that manufactured the vaccines, and was reassured that the spoiled vaccines would not harm the individuals receiving them. But because the mRNA molecules in the vaccine rapidly disintegrate at room temperature, the doses were “made less effective or ineffective,” said Dr. Bahr said.
He said the 57 people who received the vaccine had been notified. He did not say what the hospital plans to do about further doses for people who are likely to be employees of the health system, although dr. Bahr did not specifically say so.
The hospital does not believe that the incident was the result of laxity or gaps in the protocols surrounding the management of the vaccine doses, said dr. Bahr said.
“It became clear that this was a situation in which a bad actor was involved, as opposed to a bad process,” he said.
Wisconsin experienced a devastating increase in coronavirus cases in the fall and was sometimes the country hardest hit in terms of its population. The transfer has slowed down a bit since then, but the state still reports about 39 new cases per day for every 100,000 people. At least 5 1955 Wisconsin residents have died.
According to the Wisconsin Department of Health Services, as of Tuesday, the state has received 156,875 doses of vaccines and administered 47,157 doses.