WISCONSIN HOSPITAL WORKER ARRESTED FOR SPOILED VACCINE DOSES
MADISON, W is.
A pharmacist accused of deliberately spoiling more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine at a hospital outside Milwaukee was arrested Thursday afternoon, local authorities said.
Police in Grafton, Wis., arrested the unnamed man on recommended charges of first-degree recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. He is being held in the county jail, according to a statement from the police department.
The alleged episode, at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, touched off anger nationwide as limited supplies of shots are rationed for high-risk individuals. The estimated value of the doses, which authorities said totaled as much as $11,000, pales in comparison to the protection they might have offered to health care workers on the front lines of the intensifying pandemic.
The alleged tampering will delay inoculation for hundreds of people, health officials said, in a state where 3,810 new cases were reported and 42 people died Thursday of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, according to a state dashboard.
The pharmacist was dismissed earlier this week by the health care system, Aurora Health Care. And authorities said he admitted in writing that he had removed 57 vaccine vials “knowing that if not properly stored the vaccine would
be ineffective.” Police said they were withholding the man’s name until he was formally advised of the charges pending against him.
Aurora Health officials had previously been silent on the person’s motives, but the details of his alleged behavior became more grim with each update. At first, the incident, in which 57 vaccine vials were discovered Saturday left outside a refrigerator, appeared to be an honest mistake. Each vial has enough for 10 vaccinations but can remain at room temperature for only 12 hours and, once thawed, cannot be refrozen.
Hundreds of doses were discarded, but some were quickly administered, Aurora Health officials said.
On Wednesday, the health system announced its finding that the act was intentional. And on Thursday, Aurora Health leaders said the vials had been removed not once but twice, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the several dozen shots administered Saturday.
Addressing reporters Thursday, Jeff Bahr, the president of Aurora Health Care Medical Group, called the pharmacist a “bad actor.
Police in Grafton said their investigation was aided by the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration.
Leonard Peace, an FBI spokesman in Milwaukee, would not comment on the FBI’s involvement but said of the episode, “We’re aware of it.” The FDA also was aware, said a spokeswoman, Stephanie Caccomo, who similarly declined to address the existence of an investigation.
Initiating an internal review earlier this week, hospital officials said they were initially “led to believe” the incident was caused by “inadvertent human error.” The vials of the Moderna vaccine, they thought, had simply been left out overnight Friday, and they rushed to administer doses they believed at the time were still usable. They used nearly 60 and discarded the rest, Bahr said.
As the review continued, he said, “we became increasingly suspicious of the behavior of the individual in question.”
The employee was suspended and on Wednesday “admitted to intentionally removing the vaccine from refrigeration,” Bahr said. The person, he added, also admitted to removing and returning the vaccine to refrigeration the previous night, Christmas Eve.
He said Aurora Health was working with Moderna and the FDA to “figure out a strategy” for ensuring these people are thoroughly inoculated against the virus.