A Wisconsin pharmacist who was arrested last week for destroying more than 500 doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine has told police he believes the vaccine could alter human DNA and that the vials from the refrigerator left.
The pharmacist identified as Steven Brandenburg destroyed more than 500 doses of Moderna vaccine. (Reuters)
A Wisconsin pharmacist who was arrested last week for destroying more than 500 doses of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine has told police he believes the vaccine could alter human DNA and that the vials from the refrigerator left.
The pharmacist identified as Steven Brandenburg was an employee of Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin, where he was initially found to have spoiled 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine. Later, the number rose to 500 as the medical center left more doses out of the fridge by him.
According to reports, Steven Brandenburg told the court and police that the belief formed that the vaccines were unsafe. The district attorney also noted that the accused pharmacist was upset about his ongoing divorce process.
Detectives said Brandenburg admits he deliberately destroyed doses of Moderna vaccines because he believed they would hurt people by altering their DNA.
Of the vaccine doses that Brandenburg destroyed, nearly 60 were administered to humans before hospital officials found out that the medication had not been stored long enough to render the vaccine ineffective. The remaining 500 doses were then discarded.
Police in Grafton said in a statement the pharmacist “knew the spoiled vaccinations would be useless and that people who received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus, when in fact they were not”.
Test of whether Modern vaccine can be halved
Meanwhile, scientists from the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc could take another two months to test whether the doses of the coronavirus vaccine can be halved to double the doses in the US.
The US government is considering halving the doses for the Moderna vaccine, which requires two injections to release the stock for further vaccinations.
The US has approved both Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for emergencies in the country as the effects of coronavirus vaccination continue to increase.
(With input from Reuters)