Wisconsin police have arrested a pharmacist accused of removing 57 vials of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine from the refrigerator at a local hospital.
CNN reports that the man left the vaccine out, “knowing it would not be usable,” police said in a press release on Thursday. The pharmacist, identified by The Daily Mail as Steven Brandenburg, said in a written statement to Aurora Medical Center in Grafton that he intentionally removed the vials knowing the doses would be ineffective.
“Based on information available, (we) determined that the vaccine was still able to be administered on the morning of December 26, given the 12-hour period of viability after removal of refrigeration,” Dr. Jeff Bahr said, president of the facility, said. According to Moderna, the vaccine can last up to 12 hours outside of a refrigerator.
However, based on the pharmacist’s additional information in his statement, the vials were also left out of the refrigerator for some time on December 24 and 25. The 57 vaccinations that were found setting out by a pharmacy tech and given on December 26 are now thought to be less effective or ineffective. The hospital system has not said how much time the vials spent sitting out.
The pharmacist is being held at Ozaukee County Jail and could be charged with felony first-degree recklessly endangering safety, adultering a prescription drug, and criminal damage to property.
In total, more than 500 doses were lost. Hospital officials are partnering with Moderna and the US Food and Drug Administration to figure out an approach on how to handle those who received the 57 doses.
“This matter is being actively investigated by the Federal Bureau of Investigation, the Food and Drug Administration, and the Grafton Police Department,” Grafton police said in a statement. As a result of the ongoing investigation, no other information is being released by officials.
The pharmacist’s name has not been released.
