Modern Vaccine COVID-19. (FOX 9 / FOX 9)
MADISON, Wis. (AP) – Authorities arrested a suburban Milwaukee pharmacist on Thursday, suspected of deliberately spoiling hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine, removing them from the refrigerator for two nights.
The arrest marks another setback in what was a slower and more confused start to vaccinate Americans than public health officials expected. Leaders in Wisconsin and other states have been pleading with the Trump administration for more doses while healthcare professionals and the elderly line up for the life-saving vaccine.
Police in Grafton, about 20 miles (32 km) north of Milwaukee, said pharmacist lawyer Aurora Health was arrested on suspicion of reckless danger, tampering with a prescription drug and criminal damage to property, all crimes. The pharmacist was fired and the police said in a press release that he was in prison. Police have not identified the pharmacist, claiming he has not yet been formally charged.
Its motive remains unclear. Police said detectives believed he knew that the spoiled doses would be useless and the people who received them would mistakenly think they had been vaccinated, when in fact they were not.
Lawyer Aurora Health Care, director of the Medical Group Jeff Bahr, told reporters during a conference call on Thursday afternoon that the pharmacist deliberately removed 57 vials containing hundreds of doses of the Modern vaccine from refrigeration at a Grafton medical center during the night of December 24 to 25, returned them and then left them out again on the night of December 25 for Saturday. The vials contained sufficient doses to inoculate 570 people.