A Wisconsin pharmacist who was arrested last week for destroying more than 500 doses of the modern coronavirus vaccine told police he believed the vaccine was capable of altering human DNA and therefore left the vials outside the refrigerators.
The pharmacist identified as Steven Brandenburg destroyed more than 500 doses of the Modern vaccine. (Reuters)
A Wisconsin pharmacist who was arrested last week for destroying more than 500 doses of the modern coronavirus vaccine told police that he believed the vaccine was capable of altering human DNA and therefore left the vials outside the refrigerators.
The pharmacist identified as Steven Brandenburg was an employee at the Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin, where 57 vials of spoiled Modern vaccine were initially discovered. Later, the number rose to 500 as the medical center found that more doses were left out of the refrigerator by him.
According to reports, Steven Brandenburg told the court and the police that they formed this belief that vaccines were not safe. The prosecutor also noted that the accused pharmacist was upset because of his ongoing divorce process.
Detectives said Brandenburg admitted to intentionally ruining doses of the Modern vaccine because he believed they could hurt people by changing their DNA.
Of the vaccine doses that Brandenburg destroyed, almost 60 had already been administered to people before hospital officials discovered that the drug had been left uncooled long enough to render the vaccine ineffective. The remaining 500 doses were then discarded.
Grafton police said in a statement that the pharmacist “knew that spoiled vaccines would be useless and that people who received the vaccines would think they were vaccinated against the virus when they were not.”
Tests to see if the Modern vaccine can be halved
In the meantime, scientists at the National Institutes of Health and Moderna Inc may take another two months to test whether doses of their coronavirus vaccine can be cut in half to double the dose delivery in the U.S.
The United States government is considering cutting the doses of Moderna’s vaccine in half, which requires two injections, to free up more vaccines.
The United States has approved Pfizer and Moderna vaccines for emergency use in the country, as coronavirus vaccine cases continue to increase.
(With contributions from Reuters)