Was an unintentional or a deliberate mistake? A Wisconsin hospital pharmacist employed at Aurora Medical Center, Grafton, Wisconsin sabotaged and rendered ineffective around 570 doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine. He deliberately left the vaccine vials outside the refrigerator in order that it spoils, the police and hospital authorities revealed. The police have arrested him.
Wisconsin hospital pharmacist arrested on vaccine sabotage charges
A Wisconsin hospital pharmacist whose name has not been revealed was arrested on Thursday 31 December 2020. His crime? He had sabotaged around 570 vaccine doses of Moderna COVID-19 vaccine by keeping them out of the refrigerator earlier in the week. Around 57 vials of the said vaccine were left outside the cold storage. The vaccine should ideally be stored in cold temperature for it to remain effective.
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| Aurora Medical Center, Grafton, Wisconsin [Source: JS Online] |
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Each vial of the vaccine has 10 doses. And around 60 doses of the said vaccine has been administered to people. This implies that the vaccine would not protect them and they will have to be recalled and vaccinated. Additionally, the remaining 510 doses of the vaccine that are not yet administered are also useless now and will have to be thrown away. This implies that 570 people will have a delayed vaccine administration due to this deliberate error. This comes amidst the high skepticism amongst health care workers about the safety of the covid-19 vaccine.
The worker's statement
The Wisconsin pharmacist earlier on 26 December told the police that it was by mistake that he had kept the vaccine outside the refrigeration. He had forgotten to put it back in the cold shelves. But later, on 30 December 2020 confessed that he had intentionally removed the doses from the refrigeration. He was fully aware that this would spoil them.
The pharmacist is a resident of Grafton in the Milwaukee suburbs is now lodged in the Ozaukee County jail. His charges are that of a felony and include recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug, and criminal damage to property.
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| Moderna vaccine [Source: The Guardian] |
The medical hospital statement
Dr Jeff Bahr, President of the Aurora Health Care Medical Group revealed that they had consulted Moderna Inc, maker of the vaccine and that they have assured the hospital that besides ineffectiveness in the received subjects, no other harm would occur due to the vaccine in the vacinees. Why the worker did this sabotage is not clear.
Dr Jeff also assured everyone that besides keeping the vaccine outside, the pharmacist has not tampered with the inside medication in any other way. He has also not touched or damaged the other doses of the vaccine.
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