A pharmacist at a Wisconsin hospital has been arrested for allegedly removing doses of Covid-19 vaccine from a refrigerator overnight to render them useless so that people who received them would believe they had been inoculated when they had not, police said.
The Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisc., initially disclosed the event on Saturday, saying 57 vials of the Moderna vaccine containing some 570 doses had been accidentally left out overnight by a staff pharmacist.
In a news briefing Thursday, Aurora Medical Group President Jeff Bahr said that as an inquiry continued, the employee began acting suspiciously and upon further questioning, admitted on Wednesday to leaving the vaccine out intentionally.
The hospital said the pharmacist, who hasn’t been publicly identified, has been fired and the matter turned over to the police. Dr. Bahr said he didn't know the pharmacist's motives, but said there was no evidence the vials had been tampered with in any other way.
The Grafton police said their investigation found that the pharmacist, a resident of Grafton, removed the vials from the refrigerator "knowing that they 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."
The pharmacist has been charged with recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. The man's name wasn’t immediately released pending notification of charges, the police said.
Moderna’s Covid-19 vaccine is supposed to be stored in a refrigerator between 36 degrees and 46 degrees Fahrenheit, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Dr. Bahr said that, following consultation with Moderna, it was determined that the vaccine that had been left out remained viable and was subsequently administered to 57 patients.
Those patients have since been contacted and are being monitored for any sign that the vaccine they received was less effective.
Wisconsin had administered 47,157 Covid-19 vaccine doses as of Dec. 29 -- most of which has been the Pfizer version, according to the state.
On Wednesday, Wisconsin recorded 2,755 new coronavirus cases and 35 deaths, according to the state health department.
— Lukas I. Alpert
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