In this reserve photo provided by the Ozaukee County Sheriff’s Office on Monday, January 4, 2021 in Port Washington, Wisconsin, Steven Brandenburg is shown. The Wisconsin pharmacist, accused of intentionally spoiling hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine, convinced that the world was “collapsing” told police he tried to ruin hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine because he felt the injections would transform the DNA of people, according to court documents released Monday.
Ozaukee County Sheriff via AP
A Wisconsin pharmacist convinced that the world was “collapsing” told police he tried to ruin hundreds of doses of the coronavirus vaccine because he believed the injections would mutate people’s DNA, according to court documents released on Monday.
Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, arrested Advocate Aurora Health pharmacist Steven Brandenburg last week after an investigation into the 57 spoiled vials of the Modern vaccine, which officials say contains sufficient doses to inoculate more than 500 people. Charges are pending.
“He formed the belief that they were not safe,” said Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol, during a virtual hearing. He added that Brandenburg was upset because he was divorcing his wife, and an Aurora employee said Brandenburg had taken a gun to work twice.
One detective wrote in a likely statement that Brandenburg, 46, is an admitted conspiracy theorist and that he told investigators that he intentionally tried to ruin the vaccine because it could harm people by changing their DNA.
Disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines has increased online with false claims circulating about everything from vaccine ingredients to possible side effects.
One of the first false claims suggested that vaccines could alter DNA. The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines, as well as the Modern vaccine, depend on messenger RNA or mRNA, which is a relatively new technology used in vaccines that experts have been working on for years. MRNA vaccines help to train the immune system to identify the peak protein on the surface of the coronavirus and create an immune response. Experts said there is no truth to claims that vaccines can genetically modify humans.
Lawyer Aurora Health Care, director of medical group Jeff Bahr, said Brandenburg admitted that he deliberately removed the refrigeration bottles at Grafton Medical Center during the night of December 24 on December 25, returned them and left them out again on the night of December .25 on Saturday.
A pharmacy technician discovered the bottles out of the refrigerator on December 26. Bahr said Brandenburg initially said he had removed the bottles to access other items in the refrigerator and inadvertently did not put them back. The Modern vaccine is viable for 12 hours outside the refrigerator, so workers used the vaccine to inoculate 57 people before discarding the rest. Police said the dropped doses were worth between $ 8,000 and $ 11,000.
Bahr said the doses that people received on December 26 are practically useless. But Gerol said during the hearing that the vials were actually retained and that Moderna would need to test the doses to make sure they are ineffective before she can file a lawsuit.
Brandenburg’s lawyer Jason Baltz did not speak on the merits of the case during the hearing. Gerol postponed the process, saying he has yet to determine whether Brandenburg really destroyed the doses.
Judge Paul Malloy ordered Brandenburg to be placed on $ 10,000 bond on the condition that he hand over his firearms, do not work in the healthcare field and have no contact with Aurora officials.
Brandenburg has been divorcing his wife for eight years. The couple has two small children.
According to a sworn statement from his wife on December 30, the same day Brandenburg was arrested for tampering with a vaccine, he stopped at her home on December 6 and left a water purifier and two food supplies for 30 days , telling her that the world was “collapsing” and she was in denial. He said the government is planning cyber attacks and will shut down the power grid.
She added that he was storing bulk food along with weapons in rental units and she no longer felt safe around him. A court commissioner concluded on Monday that Brandenburg’s children were in imminent danger and temporarily banned them from staying with him.
The online court records indicate that the Brandenburg divorce attorney withdrew from the case on December 28.