A Wisconsin pharmacist accused of attempting to spoil dozens of vials of the COVID-19 vaccine has been charged with attempted misdemeanor against material damage
MADISON, Wisconsin – A Wisconsin pharmacist accused of trying to thaw and ruin dozens of vials of the COVID-19 vaccine was charged on Tuesday with attempted contravention of property damage, and prosecutors warned that more serious charges could arise if the tests show that the doses have been damaged.
Police arrested 46-year-old Steven Brandenburg on December 31 as part of an investigation into how 57 vials of Moderna vaccine were left for hours outside a refrigerator at Advocate Aurora Health in Grafton, a suburb of Milwaukee. The vials contained enough vaccine to inoculate more than 500 people.
Detectives wrote in court documents that Brandenburg is an admitted conspiracy theorist who believed the vaccine would change the recipients’ DNA. Experts said there is no truth to claims that COVID-19 vaccines can genetically modify humans.
According to a criminal complaint, Brandenburg told a detective that he removed the bottles from the refrigerator for three hours on December 24 and then replaced them. The next day, he took the bottles out of the fridge again. This time, he left them out for nine hours, thinking that the vaccine would become ineffective if it were not refrigerated for 12 hours. But he said a pharmacy technician found the bottles and put them back in the refrigerator.
A Moderna doctor told investigators that the vaccine could remain viable at room temperature for 24 hours, the complaint said. Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said during the initial Brandenburg hearing on Tuesday that he was testing the doses to determine their effectiveness and more serious charges could come if Brandenburg’s actions made the doses of the vaccine ineffective.
Brandenburg faces up to nine months in prison and a $ 10,000 fine if convicted of attempted misdemeanor damage. His lawyer, Jason Baltz, pleaded not guilty on his behalf during his court appearance. Baltz declined to comment when he was contacted by phone before the hearing.
Brandenburg spoke only once, answering “yes sir” when Judge Paul Malloy warned him to continue to meet bail conditions, which include not working as a pharmacist, dispensing medication and not having contact with Aurora employees.
Malloy scheduled Brandenburg’s next hearing on March 18.
———
This story has been corrected to show that Brandenburg was accused of attempting to misrepresent property damage, not misdemeanor.