The male healthcare worker was not officially nominated. A roster of inmates at Ozaukee County Jail shows Steven Bandenburg, 46, was booked on the same charges Thursday. Brandenburg is also listed as a licensed pharmacist in Wisconsin
Police have arrested a pharmacist in Wisconsin who is accused of deliberately spoiling 57 vials of the Modern COVID-19 vaccine by taking it out of a refrigerator and letting it out overnight before 57 people find it ‘ineffective’. ‘dose.
Police in Grafton said the former employee of the attorney Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton was arrested Thursday afternoon on charges of first-degree reckless endangerment, violation of prescription drugs and criminal property damage.
The male healthcare worker was not officially nominated. A roster of inmates at Ozaukee County Jail shows Steven Bandenburg, 46, was booked on the same charges Thursday.
Brandenburg is also listed as a licensed pharmacist in Wisconsin.
Police began investigating the incident at the hospital on Wednesday, but have not yet determined a motive. The value of the spoiled vaccines is estimated at about $ 8,000 to $ 11,000.
The arrest of the suspect comes the same day when health officials in Wisconsin revealed that 57 people had received the ineffective dose of the vaccine after being ‘intentionally’ spoiled.
Dr. Jeff Bahr, president of Aurora Health Care Medical Group in Wisconsin, said Thursday that the culprit not only took the vials out of the refrigerator overnight Friday, but also did so Thursday night and brought them back in the refrigerator the next morning. before anyone notices.
The net closed the suspect when a pharmacist technician discovered the bottles from the fridge on Saturday morning.
Since hospital officials did not know they had been left out the night before, some of the doses were presumably good and were given to 57 people before the rest were thrown away.
The Aurora Medical Center Grafton is working closely with Moderna to determine how the individuals involved can now be vaccinated safely.
The medical center initially said the doses were “accidentally removed from a pharmacy closet” overnight, but said Wednesday the culprit had “intentionally” acted and fired him while Grafton police and the FBI were investigating.
Police have arrested a pharmacist in Wisconsin who is accused of deliberately spoiling 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine by taking it out of a refrigerator and letting it out overnight before 57 people received the ‘ineffective’ dose. has. Aurora Medical Center in Grafton
Bahr held a press conference via Zoom on Thursday where he revealed that the culprit was a pharmacist in the hospital and gave further details about the saga.
He said a pharmacy technician only discovered in the early hours of the morning that 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine had been left out of the fridge in which it was stored.
The technician returned the vials to the refrigerator and reported the incident to their leaders.
Bahr said the pharmacist in charge initially claimed that they had merely made an ‘unintentional mistake’ in leaving them out of the fridge when they had access to other items in the same unit.
The vaccine can be kept out of the fridge for up to 12 hours before becoming ineffective.
Based on the belief that the removal was accidental and that the vials were less than this time out of the refrigerator, clinical leaders in the hospital determined that morning that the vaccines could still be administered.
A total of 57 people received their first dose of Moderna vaccine at Aurora Medical Center Grafton on the morning of December 26th.
The rest of the vials are then discarded after being ‘made inefficient’.
Dr. Jeff Bahr, president of Aurora Health Care Medical Group in Wisconsin, revealed on Thursday that the culprit behind the destruction not only took the bottles out of the fridge overnight Friday, but also did the night before – before returning them to the fridge before they were caught
But after an internal investigation, hospital staff, according to Bahr, became ‘increasingly’ suspicious of the pharmacist’s behavior.
He was suspended before finally ‘after several interviews’ admitting that he had deliberately taken the bottles out of the fridge.
The pharmacist then also admitted that he removed the bottles from the fridge and left them away overnight on Thursday, but returned them to the fridge on Friday morning before anyone saw them.
This meant that the vials were ineffective or ineffective, Bahr said.
Bahr maintained that there was “no evidence” that the ineffective doses could harm the individuals who gave them. The hospital is working with Moderna to draw up a plan for how those affected can safely receive an effective dose.
“The 57 were notified,” Bahr said.
‘There is no evidence that the vaccines harm them, except that they are less effective or ineffective.
‘Modern has reassured us that there are no safety issues with administering a vaccine that has been out of the fridge for too long. We will work with them and the FDA to determine a strategy for the future vaccination of the 57 individuals involved. ‘
The hospital boss also said he was confident that no bottles other than the 57 were spoiled because the hospital had not received any doses before the day in question.
There is also ‘no evidence’ that he hampered the vaccine in any other way than taking it out of the fridge, Bahr said while trying to reassure people that it was the work of a ‘bad actor’ rather than a ‘ bad process’ was.
Grafton police said the former employee of Advocate Aurora Health Hospital in Grafton was arrested Thursday afternoon on charges of first-class the reckless danger of safety, the expiration of prescription drugs and criminal property damage.
Police and federal authorities launched an investigation Wednesday after the Wisconsin health system said the employee admitted to deliberately spoiling 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine.
The Aurora Medical Center first reported that the doses were spoiled Saturday, saying they were accidentally left unattended overnight by an employee at the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton.
The health system said on Wednesday that the doses of vaccine had been deliberately spoiled.
Aurora said in a statement late Wednesday that the employee in question “admitted that they deliberately took the vaccine out of the refrigerator.”
Aurora said it 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 the actions of this individual will lead to a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine, ‘the statement read.
Police and federal authorities launched an investigation on Wednesday.
The number of COVID-19 cases in Wisconsin continued to rise 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 percent.
