This article was originally published on December 31, 2020
MADISON, Wis. (AP) Authorities on Thursday arrested a pharmacist in the suburbs of Milwaukee on suspicion of deliberately destroying hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine by removing it from the refrigerator for two nights.
The arrest is another setback in what was a slower, more messy start to vaccinate Americans than public health officials expected. Leaders in Wisconsin and other states are begging the Trump administration for more doses as health care workers and senior citizens take action for the life-saving vaccine.
Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said attorney Aurora Health Pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless threat, which falsified a prescribed drug and criminal case damage. The pharmacist was fired and police said in a news release he was in jail. Police have not identified the pharmacist and said he has not yet been formally charged.
His motive remains unclear. Police said detectives believed he knew the spoiled doses would be useless and that people receiving them would mistakenly think they were vaccinated if they did not.
Aurora Health Care Chief Medical Officer Jeff Bahr told reporters during a teleconference Thursday afternoon that the pharmacist intentionally put 57 vials containing hundreds of doses of Moderna vaccine in the refrigerator at Grafton Medical Center from Dec. 24 to Dec. 25. removed. gave them back and then left them out again the night of December 25th to Saturday. The vials contain enough doses to vaccinate 570 people.
A pharmacy technician discovered the bottles outside the refrigerator Saturday morning. Bahr said the pharmacist initially said he removed the vials to gain access to other items in the refrigerator, and that he did not accidentally return them.
The Modern vaccine is out of refrigeration for 12 hours, so workers used the vaccine to vaccinate 57 people before throwing away the rest. Police said the discards were worth between $ 8,000 and $ 11,000.
Bahr said health care officials became more suspicious of the pharmacist as they reviewed the incident. After multiple interviews, the pharmacist admitted Wednesday that he intentionally removed the vaccine during the two nights, Bahr said.
That means the doses people receive on Saturday are almost useless, he said. Moderna informed Aurora that there are no safety issues, but the hospital is closely monitoring the people who received the spoiled doses.
Bahr declined to comment on the pharmacist’s motive. He said the hospital system’s safety protocols are sound.
“It was a situation where a bad actor was involved,” as opposed to a bad process. ‘
The number of COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin has increased in recent days after plunging in early December. The state Department of Health Services on Thursday reported 3,810 newly diagnosed cases, which is the third consecutive day of increasing daily infections. The state has now seen 481,102 cases.
COVID-19 was a factor in another 41 deaths, bringing the total death toll from the state to 4,859. The survival rate remains unchanged at 99%.
According to the latest data from the health agency, a little over 47,150 people were vaccinated in Wisconsin on Monday morning. The state allocated 265,575 doses of both the Moderna and Pfizer vaccines. As of Monday morning, only about 157,000 doses had arrived.
Democratic Gov. Tony Evers wrote a letter to President Donald Trump earlier in December urging him to prioritize more doses for Wisconsin because of high case numbers, overcrowded hospitals and a lack of mandate for mitigation across the country.
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