Police say they arrested a pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital on Thursday for sabotaging more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine. The pharmacist is accused of deliberately taking them out of the fridge to spoil.
Some of the doses involved were administered before hospital officials determined that the medication made by Moderna had not been cooled long enough to render it ineffective. The remaining doses were discarded.
The pharmacist, who has not yet been publicly identified, worked at Aurora Medical Center in the suburb of Grafton in Milwaukee. The president of the Aurora Health Care Medical Group, dr. Jeff Bahr, said Moderna assured the hospital that the doses taken from the refrigerator did not pose a safety issue to those who received an injection.
“It is important that there is no evidence that the individual tampered with the vaccine in any way other than removing it from the refrigerator, leading to a denaturation of the vaccine.”
When the peels were found in the wrong place on December 26, the pharmacist said it was an unintentional mistake. But hospital officials said he admitted on Wednesday that he had deliberately removed the vaccine from the cold room.
Neither Aurora Health nor law enforcement offered any possible motive for the sabotage.
Video transcription
– Police say they arrested a pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital on Thursday for sabotaging more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine. The pharmacist is accused of deliberately taking them out of the fridge to spoil. Some of the doses involved were administered before hospital officials determined that the medication made by Moderna had not been cooled long enough to render it ineffective. The remaining doses were discarded.
The pharmacist, who has not been publicly identified, worked at Aurora Medical Center in the suburb of Grafton in Milwaukee. The president of the Aurora Health Care Medical Group, dr. Jeff Bahr, said Moderna assured the hospital that the doses taken from the refrigerator did not pose a safety issue to those who received an injection.
JEFF BAHR: It is important that there is no evidence that the individual concerned tampered with the vaccine in any other way than taking it out of the refrigerator, leading to a denaturation of the vaccine.
– When the misplaced vials were found on Dec. 26, the pharmacist said it was an unintentional mistake, but hospital officials said he admitted Wednesday that he deliberately removed the vaccine from the cold room. Neither Aurora Health nor law enforcement offered any possible motive for the sabotage.