A pharmacist has been fired, arrested and charged with intentionally destroying vials of the COVID-19 vaccine.
That’s a sentence I never in my wildest dreams expected to write. And yet, here we are. 2020 continues to be a gift that keeps on giving.
This story has made headlines because, well, it’s incredible, incredulous and incomprehensible. For nearly a year, hundreds of thousands have died from and millions have been infected with COVID-19. In a year filled with so much loss, suffering and fear, the promise of a vaccine was our guiding hope.
Then, just in time for Christmas, Americans got the best present we could ask for: two vaccines approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA). We know vaccine shortages are on the way and the vaccine distribution has been met with delays, roadblocks and other speedbumps. That’s why news of purposeful destruction of something that could save lives and help us get back to normal is such an unexpected punch to the gut that takes our breath away.
Here’s what we know, based on reports from the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel, CNN, The New York Times and Reuters.
In the early morning hours of Dec. 26, a hospital pharmacy technician discovered 57 vials of Moderna’s coronavirus vaccine sitting outside the refrigerator. The technician returned those vials to the refrigerator and alerted supervisors. That prompted Aurora Health Care Medical Group in Grafton, Wis., to launch an internal investigation.
Moderna’s vaccine must be kept in a temperature-controlled climate until it is about to be used. Unlike the Pfizer vaccine, the Moderna vaccine doesn’t require subarctic temperatures and can last up to 12 hours out of a refrigerator. Based on that information, hospital officials determined the vaccine was still viable, and 57 doses were administered on Dec. 26.
In the course of their investigation, hospital officials interviewed Steven Brandenburg, a pharmacist who had worked the night shift. He said the vials were left out as a result of an “inadvertent error.” Upon further review, Brandenburg admitted to intentionally removing the vials from refrigeration twice, on the evenings of Dec. 24 and 25, for periods of 12 hours.
That meant Brandenburg rendered 570 doses--as Reuters notes, each vial contains 10 doses--of the COVID-19 vaccine useless. Prosecutors estimated they were worth between $8,000 and $12,000. Brandenburg was arrested on felony charges of reckless endangerment and property damage, though prosecutors said charges could be reduced.
In a virtual press conference last week with reporters, Jeff Bahr, MD, president of Aurora, said there was no evidence Brandenburg had tampered with the vaccine in any other way. He also said that the hospital did not believe the incident resulted from any laxness or gaps in its protocols.
“It’s become clear that this was a situation involving a bad actor, as opposed to a bad process,” he said.
According to police, Brandenburg was “an admitted conspiracy theorist” who believed the vaccine could harm people and “change their DNA.” (Note: The Moderna and Pfizer vaccines use mRNA to help the body build immunity against the coronavirus, but there is no evidence the vaccines alter a person’s genes.)
Prosecutor Adam Gerol told The New York Times that Brandenburg had been “pretty cooperative,” and that “he expressed that he was under great stress because of marital problems.”
His wife, Gretchen Brandenburg, is in the process of divorcing him. In a motion filed last week for sole custody of their two children, Gretchen said Brandenburg dropped off “a water purifier, a large bucket of powdered milk and two 30-day emergency buckets of food.” The Times also reported that co-workers said Brandenburg had twice brought a gun to work.
As for those 57 individuals who received useless doses, Aurora has notified them. The hospital consulted Moderna, which said the spoiled vaccine would not harm the individuals. Aurora is working with Moderna and the FDA to determine how best to properly vaccine those individuals.