Wisconsin pharmacist charged with attempting to break dozens of COVID-19 vaccine vials charged with attempted property damage
MADISON, Wisconsin. – A Wisconsin pharmacist accused of trying to defrost and damage dozens of COVID-19 vaccine bottles was charged Tuesday with attempted property damage, and prosecutors warned he could face more serious charges if tests show the doses were destroyed.
Police arrested 46-year-old Steven Brandenburg on December 31 as part of an investigation into how 57 bottles of Moderna vaccine were left in the refrigerator for hours 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 move the beneficiaries’ DNA. Experts say there is no truth in claims that COVID-19 vaccines can genetically modify humans.
According to a criminal complaint, Brandenburg told a detective that he took the bottles out of the refrigerator for three hours on December 24, then replaced them. The next day he took the bottles out of the refrigerator again. This time he left them out for nine hours, believing that the vaccine would become ineffective if 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, according to the complaint. Ozaukee County Attorney Adam Gerol said Tuesday during the initial court appearance in Brandenburg that the doses tested will be tested to determine their effectiveness and that more serious charges could arise if Brandenburg’s actions make vaccine doses ineffective. .
Brandenburg faces up to nine months in prison and a $ 10,000 fine if convicted of attempted property damage. His lawyer, Jason Baltz, made an innocent plea on his behalf during his court appearance. Baltz declined to comment when contacted by telephone prior to 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, not issuing drugs, and not having any contact with Aurora employees.
Malloy set Brandenburg’s next court appearance for March 18.
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This story was corrected to show that Brandenburg was charged with attempted property damage, not property damage.