A Wisconsin pharmacist accused of destroying 570 doses of COVID vaccine because he thought the shots would alter DNA would plead guilty, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Steven Brandenburg (46) took bottles of the Moderna vaccine out of the fridge on Christmas Eve and then again on Christmas Day to destroy the doses, the prosecutors claim.
The 57 vials – enough to vaccinate 570 people – were stored at lawyer Aurora Health in Grafton, a suburb of Milwaukee, where Brandenburg worked.
Prosecutors on Tuesday announced new charges against Brandenburg as part of a plea deal. Brandenburg, who has not yet pleaded guilty, must face up to ten years in prison.
Prosecutors said Bradenburg is a licensed conspiracy theorist who believes the vaccine will alter the recipients’ DNA.
Bradenburg’s wife filed for divorce on December 30, saying he had rented space with dry food and guns because he believed the pandemic was part of a government plot to shut down the world.
Pharmacist Steven Brandenburg is accused of deliberately spoiling hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine. He is pictured in a discussion photo by the Ozaukee County Sheriff
Brandenburg claims that his actions are a ‘spontaneous act’ and that he ‘does not think straight due to persistent personal issues and lack of sleep’.
Prosecutors say Brandenburg retrieved a box of Moderna vaccines from the refrigerator at Lawyer Aurora Health in Grafton (above) for three hours on Dec. 24 and the next day for nine hours to make it ineffective. The medical center had to discard the affected doses
Brandenburg told a detective that he took the bottles from the medical center out of the fridge for three hours on Christmas Eve and put them back.
On Christmas Day, he took the bottles out of the fridge again and left them out for nine hours, believing that it would make the doses ineffective if it had not been in the fridge for 12 hours.
But he said a pharmacy technician found the vials and put them back in the fridge.
The Moderna vaccine is supposed to be stored between 36 and 46 degrees Fahrenheit.
Moderna says according to the charge sheet, the vaccine can remain viable at room temperature for 24 hours.
Aurora Medical Group chief executive Jeff Bahr said health workers were forced to discard about 570 doses after Brandenburg deliberately removed the vials.
Brandenburg claimed that his actions were a “spontaneous act” and that he “did not think straight because of constant personal affairs and lack of sleep.”
Brandenburg allegedly told investigators that he was aware “that people who received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus, when in fact they were not.”
Medical experts believe there is no truth in the allegations that the COVID-19 vaccines genetically alter humans.
According to the complaint, Brandenburg admitted in an email to Aurora’s employers that he intentionally removed the box of Moderna vaccines twice.
According to divorce documents, the Brandenburg woman was concerned about her husband’s actions and behavior at the time and told a judge she believed her children were causing imminent harm.
She called him an ‘admitted conspiracy theorist’ in her divorce suit on December 30, the day after she found out her husband was being investigated for trying to sabotage the vaccines.
In the submission, she said her husband has rental units that include ‘large food and guns that are stored’.
On one occasion, he dropped off a water purifier, a large bucket of powdered milk, and two buckets of emergency food at her home.
He told her that the world was “collapsing” and he thought “the government is planning cyber attacks and planning to shut down the power grid.”
Brandenburg was sacked by Aurora Health after the incident and its license was suspended by a state council last week.
The Department of Safety and Professional Services, which handles Brandenburg’s pharmacist’s license, said they had no complaints or incidents with him.
Brandenburg was pictured during a possible cause at the Ozaukee County Justice Center via video from Ozaukee County Jail in Port Washington, Wisconsin on Jan. 4 after his arrest.
Brandenburg is charged with two counts of attempting to tamper with consumer products, described in the plea agreement as ‘reckless disregard for the risk of another person being put at risk of death or bodily harm’.
Brandenburg has a maximum sentence of ten years and a fine of $ 250,000 at a time.
He was originally charged with attempted damage to property, but prosecutors warned that more serious charges could follow if tests showed the doses had been destroyed.
Adam Gerol, of Attorne County in Ozaukee County, said in a statement that “it was necessary to bring an appropriate level of prosecution and punishment in this case” in federal court, and “the facts of this incident simply do not fit. in a charge provided by Wisconsin law. ‘
Authorities declined to comment after a press release announcing the charges.
A sentencing hearing is not scheduled.