MILWAUKEE, Wis. (WMTV) – Wisconsin police say they have arrested the fired hospital employee suspected of intentionally spoiling COVID-19 vaccine.
The Grafton police station said the former attorney Aurora Health Pharmacist was arrested on suspicion of reckless threat, which is the prescription of a prescription drug and criminal case damage. The department said in a news release Thursday that he was in Ozaukee County Jail.
Police have not identified the pharmacist and said he has not yet been formally charged. Grafton PD did note that the pharmacist is a resident of Grafton.
Fifty-seven doses of the ineffective vaccine were administered. Officials noted that the vaccines being administered have no negative side effects, but that the vaccine is not effective in preventing the virus.
At a news conference Thursday, officials said an Aurora Advocate pharmacist removed the vaccines from a refrigerator twice last week. The employee was fired and police launched an investigation Wednesday night. The health system also notified the Department of Health Services and the FBI.
According to the health system, it is initially believed that the pharmacist technician left the bottles out of the fridge early in the morning of December 26 and reported the incident to their superiors afterwards. Officials determined that the vaccine could still be administered the same morning. The pharmacist said it was an ‘unintentional mistake’ when working with other materials.
After reviewing the incident, the staff member admitted that he had deliberately removed the vaccine and then returned it overnight between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day. The president of Aurora Health Care did not say how long the vaccines would be left out. No vaccines were administered on 24 and 25 December. The 57 ineffective doses were administered on December 26 and all people vaccinated with the vaccines were notified.
“It is clear that this situation involved a bad actor as opposed to a bad process,” said dr. Jeff Bahr said. ‘We have definitely used it to have additional conversations and to ensure learning around our processes.
The president of the health system said there was no evidence that other vaccination vials had been tampered with at the facility. There is also no confirmed motive.
DHS secretary delegate Andrea Palm said she was disappointed that any COVID-19 vaccine was being wasted in Wisconsin.
“As we have seen over the past few weeks, our health workers are eager to protect themselves from COVID-19 through vaccination,” Palm said. “They are at the forefront of our fight against this disease and have seen the serious consequences due to the contracting of COVID-19.”
Palm said DHS was working closely with Aurora on the investigation. She also said that DHS will continue to work with healthcare agencies to administer as many vaccines as possible.
Police estimate that the value of the spoiled doses was between $ 8,000 and $ 11,000.
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