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A Wisconsin pharmacist, who was convinced the world was “collapsing,” told police he tried to destroy hundreds of doses of coronavirus because he believed the shots would move people’s DNA, according to court documents released Monday.
Police in Grafton, about 30 miles north of Milwaukee, arrested Aurora Health pharmacist Steven Brandenburg last week after an investigation into the 57 pampered ampoules of the Moderna vaccine, which officials say contained enough doses to inoculate. more than 500 people. Taxes are pending.
“He expressed this belief that they are not sure,” Ozaukee County Attorney Adam Gerol said during a virtual hearing. The prosecutor added that Brandenburg was upset because he was in the middle of his wife’s divorce, and an Aurora employee said Brandenburg took a gun to work twice.
A detective wrote in a probable cause statement that Brandenburg, 46, is an admitted conspiracy theorist and told investigators he intentionally tried to destroy the vaccine because it could injure people by changing his DNA.
Disinformation about Covid-19 vaccines has grown 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 / BioNTech vaccine as well as the Moderna vaccine are based on messenger RNA or mRNA, which is a fairly new technology used in vaccines that experts have been working on for years.
MRNA vaccines help build the immune system to identify the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus and to create an immune response. Experts say there is no truth in claims that vaccines can genetically alter humans.
Jeff Bahr, chief officer of Aurora Health Care’s medical group, said Brandenburg acknowledged that he deliberately removed the vials from the refrigerator at Grafton Medical Center from Dec. 24 to Dec. 25, then returned them. left out again on the night of December 25 until Saturday.
A pharmacy technician discovered the bottles outside the refrigerator on December 26th.
Brandenburg’s lawyer, Jason Baltz, did not speak on the merits of the case during the hearing. Gerol dropped any charges, saying he must determine whether Brandenburg actually destroyed the doses.
Judge Paul Malloy ordered Brandenburg to have a $ 10,000 bond, provided he surrendered his firearms, did not work in the health field and had no contact with Aurora employees.
Brandenburg has been in the process of divorcing his wife for eight years. The couple has two small children.
According to the statement made by his wife Brandenburg, he visited her on December 6 and left a water purifier and two 30-day food supplies, telling her that the world was “collapsing”.
He also said the government was planning cyber attacks and would shut down the electricity grid.
She added that he was storing bulk food with weapons in rental units and that he no longer felt safe around him.