Employee intentionally removed COVID-19 vaccine from fridge, ruining more than 500 doses, hospital says; FBI investigating

Let me guess...a Magat Q loon?

They should be charged with a crime. Hopefully they will be.

The only thing that's going to keep any of these psycho anti-vax QAnon types in line is the threat of being jailed.

I wonder if this person is an antivaxxer or had a grudge against other employees?

Why are people in this country acting so fucking CRAZY???

FWIW:

[quote] You can choose to believe that vaccine doses were "discarded," or you can choose to believe the doses were sold by a worker to the CEO of a brewery and his family who are in the same state.

Because the right has succeeded in their 50+ year war on education, R4.

Charge him with 500 counts of attempted murder, sentences to run consecutively.

I wonder what church he goes to.

a TV movie please! the disgruntled employee! the nasty head nurse! Ginny from billing!

This employee should be held to fully account for this crime, from making restitution (which will run into the $hundreds of thousands, if not millions) to conviction of grand theft for each dose resulting in spending the rest of their natural life in prison. Perhaps murder could be thrown in there because each dose prevents illness, and we know 4% - 6% of those who get sick will die; at least, manslaughter should be included.

See, this is what happens when you hire fucking nutjobs to work in the health care field. We need universal health care. Fascists, Capitalists and Reilgious Nutjobs (theocratic) have no business in the Medical and Public Health Profession.

Why?

I think we should start calling this the "Trump Effect."

People behaving like violent, unhinged, stark raving mad lunatics - all as a result of Trump's Presidency.

I have never before in my life seen so many people act as insane as they have, after having Trump as the leader of this country.

What I do wonder about, is did he influence them to become crazy?

Or were they always this way, and he just set them off.

Whatever the case, it really is terrifying. I mean honestly, wtf are they going to do next?

I don’t understand why the military isn’t involved in administration of the vaccine. The National Guard should be activated And there should be a federal response to vaccinating the entire country. Oh wait I forgot it’s the Trump administration. Instead we have the orange turd golfing. What a fucking disaster this is everything he fucking touches.

It is because trump and the republicans are controlling the country. They are evil, corrupt and fucking beyond stupid. Nothing is going to change, until we get Biden and his team (with credible scientists and medical specialists) in there.

Thank GOD Biden won the election.

That CDAN blind sounds like QAnon crap, the "choose to believe" thing is very common with conspiracists. Now I'm wondering what they're up to with that.

[R14] I know. I have neighbors (strange word to describe these cunts) who throw corona virus parties, then want to bash a senior's head in at a grocery store, who is having trouble breathing during their special hours. They scream they are not wearing their mask right. They work themselves purposely into a rage. It is crazy, CRAZY.

Why do I have to wear a mask? You can't tell me what to do? Why does this person have special hours (special treatment)? Why is that person having trouble breathing? Why can't I just walk up to a person and violently bully them?

It is BATSHIT OUT THERE!

That article leaves so many unanswered questions. What type of employee, a nurse, a doctor, housekeeping, an administrator, why wasn't it under lock and key, how could it go unnoticed for 12 fucking hours, how could some of it be under the 12 hour limit and not all of it, and WHY?

[quote] who throw corona virus parties, then want to bash a senior's head in at a grocery store, who is having trouble breathing during their special hours.

Can you explain this in more detail, R17?

What you wrote is terrifying, on so many levels.

It was apparently discovered before the 12 hours was up, so they were able to give some of the vaccine out before the 12-hour limit was reached.

CDAN is generally bullshit, but theft is probably the most likely reason.

Yes, on all levels. They are BATSHIT and VIOLENT. The police do nothing to stop them. More terrifying, they are not alone in their batshit.

Told you I was hard core

"People are born rotten, and every year they get worse." ~ Martin Crane

that employee is running for the title the cuntiest cunt who ever cunted

On a related matter, WTF are the media thinking when they announce (and, on television, show) the timing, source, route and destination of vaccine deliveries?!!

How long before we see armed highjackings and "cases falling off trucks?"

SMH

I don't understand why so many delivered doses all around the country are not being put in people's arms immediately. They get prior notice of the approaching arrival, those doses should be going into people's arms as soon as they are thawed. It does no good sitting in a vial.

If you can believe the Trump administration, 12 million doses have been delivered but only about 2 million doses have been given. They are claiming there is a delay in reporting the actual vaccinations but this is an example of the vaccine just sitting there not being used.

"I need to put my pot pie in there. Fuck you motherfuckers!!"

What a creep, probably eyeing a Republican presidential run in 2024.

Wait - is there any proof the vaccine was used or is that just a conspiracy theory?

Sounds like he (and it is most likely a he) spoiled them due to his political beliefs. It doesn't say they went 'missing'.

Well, he had to make room for his lunch bag.

My friend Cheryl said she was making room in the fridge for her lunch.

Does the employee actually work for Pfizer?

GRAFTON, Wis. (AP) — Police in Wisconsin say they've arrested fired hospital employee suspected of intentionally spoiling COVID-19 vaccine.

Do we know his/her motive yet?

The motive is to inherit millions!!!

This vaccine should be treated like they treat narcotics, under lock and key and a audit log with names and signatures of the health professional who uses the vials.

This is what happens when people aren't held accountable for things. They see Trump and the Repugs not getting punished and they think they deserve the same treatment. This is why Trump and the Republicans need to be held accountable for their actions! Make an example of them.

Brazil just started receiving shipments of a Chinese vaccine (Coronavac). They're not releasing any information about timing of shipments or destinations, for obvious reasons. Governor of Rio de Janeiro state is in prison right now for hijacking PPE shipments and reselling them for a markup.

If he has been arrested, where is the mug shot?

[QUOTE] I wonder what church he goes to.

Evangelical protestant, of course. A Catholic wouldn’t do this.

[quote]If he has been arrested, where is the mug shot?

I'll take "dude's white " for $400, Alex.

I was thinking it was a random hospital employee who had access to medication but it was a pharmacist.

[quote]on Thursday, Aurora Health leaders said the vials had been removed not once but twice, raising doubts about the effectiveness of the several dozen shots administered Saturday.

...

[quote]Initiating an internal review earlier this week, hospital officials said they were initially “led to believe” the incident was caused by “inadvertent human error.” The vials of the Moderna vaccine, they thought, had simply been left out overnight Friday, and they rushed to administer doses they believed at the time were still usable. They used nearly 60 and discarded the rest, Bahr said.

[quote]As the review continued, he said, “we became increasingly suspicious of the behavior of the individual in question.”

[quote]The employee was suspended and on Wednesday “admitted to intentionally removing the vaccine from refrigeration,” Bahr said. The person, he added, also admitted to removing and returning the vaccine to refrigeration the previous night, Christmas Eve.

[quote]That acknowledgment, he said, made clear that the nearly five dozen people who received shots on Dec. 26 may not gain full protection. He said Aurora Health was working with Moderna and the FDA to “figure out a strategy” for ensuring these people are thoroughly inoculated against the virus. He also said each of those individuals had been contacted.

[quote]Bahr said there was otherwise “no evidence that the vaccinations pose any harm to them other than being less effective or ineffective.”

...

[quote]“Hopefully, this is a one-off, but I’m sure places will now have to think about whether those handling the vaccines are trusted, in addition to making sure supplies are under camera surveillance,” she said.

RCMP and Canadian Military have been guarding Vaccines and distribution centres since early December.

The QAnon loons and anti-vaxxers have made credible threats against distribution of the vaccine.

Upon first reading title of thread thoughts were "culprit must be a nurse or pharmacist", and was correct, it was the latter.

Those are the two main group of hospital employees who routinely have access to meds on floors or where inventory is kept. A pharmacy tech may have access, but his superior should have noticed something was up.

Ironically it was a pharma tech who noticed vials sitting outside of fridge and asked why, but was at first blown off.

It never amazes me how licensed professionals such as physicians, nurses, lawyers etc... who spend considerable effort, time and money to become so, then turn around and blow it all doing something stupid.

I’m not sure what the point of intentionally taking these out would be

This wasn't stupid. It was deliberate. Can't wait for the details and her public shaming and punishment.

Punishment? Wood chipper....feet first...

It sounds like one of those cases where a health worker commits mass murder for the thrill. The pharmacist did not intend for the tampering to be noticed. The pharmacist put the vaccine back in the refrigerator after the first night after leaving it out all night and was caught leaving it out again on the second night. The pharmacist wanted people to get the inoculation and believe it was effective. This person wanted to kill people while doing a perfect crime.

His public shaming and punishment, R48.

[quote]Grafton police said the pharmacist, a Grafton resident, removed 57 vials from a refrigerator and left them out overnight last week. They said the man knew this would render the vaccines "useless" and make people who received them believe they were vaccinated when they were not.

[quote]Each vial contained about 10 doses of vaccine. Aurora discarded more than 500 doses and Thursday said it has determined 57 people were given less-effective or ineffective vaccines.

[quote]Police said they are still investigating the man's motive and have not released his name. He is being held at the Ozaukee County Jail.

[ ... ]

[quote]Early Saturday morning, Bahr said, a pharmacy technician discovered 57 vials of Moderna vaccine outside the refrigerator where they had been stored. The technician put the vials back in the refrigerator and reported the incident to superiors, Bahr said.

[quote]"The pharmacist responsible for removing the vials maintained that this was an inadvertent error that occurred while the individual was accessing other items from the same refrigerator," Bahr said.

[quote]In the hours afterward, leaders determined the vaccine could still be administered that morning, he said, "given a 12-hour period of viability after removal from refrigeration."

[quote]But as the system continued its internal review, he said, "we became increasingly suspicious of the behavior of the individual in question."

[quote]The pharmacist was suspended and after multiple interviews admitted Wednesday to intentionally removing the vaccine from the refrigerator, Bahr said. The staff member also admitted to removing and then returning the vaccine to the refrigerator between Christmas Eve and Christmas Day, he said.

Who's to say this fucker didn't do the same with all the other trays of vaccine in the fridge? If they don't have it all on 24 hour camera, I bet they have to throw out all the vaccine in storage there that he had access to.

[quote]This wasn't stupid. It was deliberate. Can't wait for the details and her public shaming and punishment.

Her? As usual, this was a fucking man.

R47

To cause those vials of vaccine to become spoiled and thus would have to be discarded. While in theory it is possible for a pharmacist or nurse to remove meds from fridge to say get at something further back, it would be a huge error to allow them to remain at improper temperature. This is why the pharma tech questioned his superior regarding those vials sitting on counter.

If any medication is not stored or handled properly it must be considered contaminated or otherwise not usable and discarded. A report would have to be generated with perhaps an investigation.

There are several sorts of medication errors by nurses and pharmacists, but two most common are omission (forgetting to do something), or deliberate. Knowingly tampering with meds of any sort is a serious matter.

[quote] "The pharmacist responsible for removing the vials maintained that this was an inadvertent error that occurred while the individual was accessing other items from the same refrigerator," Bahr said.

There's his defense. Of course if he was doing what he said he was doing (moving shit around), he would be deliberately taking them out. I haven't read yet that he said he deliberately left them out. And knowing that they would spoil if left out is not an admission he left them out so they would spoil.

Yea yea, I know. But hey, it's what I do. LOL!

Please people do not talk to your employers or the cops without your lawyer. Period.

r54, the pharmacist already confessed to deliberately leaving it out overnight on two occasions.

Many anti-vaxxers are left-wing crunchy granola types, they're not all Maga Quanon loons.

THIS IS WHY WE CANT HAVE NICE THINGS!

THIS I WHY WE CAN'T HAVE NICE VACCINES!

(You missed an opportunity there, so I fixed it for you.)

[quote] Many anti-vaxxers are left-wing crunchy granola types, they're not all Maga Quanon loons.

Newsome and Cuomo spent months telling people not to trust this vaccine

Not to mention America's royal family

I wish they'd release his name. You know we'd find his anti-vax/fundie/QAnon social media within seconds.

The anti-vaxxers I've known have all been "Los Feliz Daycare" types. Not conservative at all, exactly the opposite. Of course lots of Trumptards are anti-vaxxers but there are a LOT on the opposite end of the spectrum as well.

It’s interesting that, despite a complete lack of information about this pharmacist, his political leanings or absolutely anything else about him, that so many “people” in this thread have decided to push the line that Oh He Must Be A Trumper. No serious person with a working brain that isn’t drowned in ideological venom would jump to that conclusion without actually assessing the little information given. Pharmacists see the side effects from bad prescribing by doctors every day and they tend to be much more cautious about mixing medications that the doctors who get paid off by Big Pharma. However, they also believe in science and I’ve never met a single one who is anti-vaxx. If this guy intentionally ruined a batch of vaxx, the question should be, “What was he trying to achieve by doing so?”

^I see no point in seeing what he was 'trying to achieve'. He should be charged with a criminal act, and judged in a court of law. His defense counsel can waste the time to uncover his motives and attempt to build some case.

Meanwhile, as a country we need a chaos-free environment to execute a vaccination strategy for the majority of the country, so that we can finally move on fro 2020 and dare I say the ineptitude of this current US administration.

R63 good thing you’re not a detective and hopefully not employed in any field that requires critical thinking.

As mentioned above, he should be charged with one count of attempted murder for every dose lost.

^It's critical to get the vaccine out without any chaos.

It's critical to have the legal system process this suspected criminal.

I call that effective review of the problem and assignment of critical tasks.

Mrs. Marple can spend her time writing her next mystery. The country needs to move forward.

Where’s his mugshot, if this actually happened?

Large numbers of California health workers refusing vaccination.

[quote] "The pharmacist responsible for removing the vials maintained that this was an inadvertent error that occurred while the individual was accessing other items from the same refrigerator," Bahr said. But as the system continued its internal review, he said, "we became increasingly suspicious of the behavior of the individual in question."

I wonder what the hell happened? It' probably some weird qanon-er

[quote] It’s interesting that, despite a complete lack of information about this pharmacist, his political leanings or absolutely anything else about him, that so many “people” in this thread have decided to push the line that Oh He Must Be A Trumper. No serious person with a working brain that isn’t drowned in ideological venom would jump to that conclusion without actually assessing the little information given. Pharmacists see the side effects from bad prescribing by doctors every day and they tend to be much more cautious about mixing medications that the doctors who get paid off by Big Pharma. However, they also believe in science and I’ve never met a single one who is anti-vaxx. If this guy intentionally ruined a batch of vaxx, the question should be, “What was he trying to achieve by doing so?”

I don't need you to tell me anything about pharmacists. It's so funny that you are going on about why he did it, as if he might have had a good reason for doing it and that would excuse him

r70 we don't know what the motives were yet.

Here it says his name is Steven Brandenburg, 46. If you click on the link you can see his pic, he is bald and looks just like the type to do something like this.

He's 5'9 and 205 pounds.

Do the rest of you actual people notice this propaganda line being regurgitated post after post that this “must be a Trumper”, despite any evidence of such or for that matter any information about his possible motivation or political leanings? Doesn’t it seem a little strange that so many “people” have decided why he did this based on their gut instincts?

It wouldn't surprise me if he's a Trumper. I'm sure we will find out now that his name is out there.

[quote] Do the rest of you actual people notice this propaganda line being regurgitated post after post that this “must be a Trumper”, despite any evidence of such or for that matter any information about his possible motivation or political leanings? Doesn’t it seem a little strange that so many “people” have decided why he did this based on their gut instincts?

The past four years has blessed us with a gift for identifying such people.

I knew it was some cunt GenX Karen

[quote] The past four years has blessed us with a gift for identifying such people.

And you just know they are hiding under EVERY bed, just waiting to strike

One of the comments on the Daily Mail's website says "The motivation might have something to do with the perp's divorce. Brandenburg is going through a divorce with a custody battle included. He's had TWO attorneys separately withdraw as his lawyer from his divorce case, with the most recent withdrawal just this past week on December 28th"

R79…trying to follow the line of reasoning…Because he couldn’t get whatever he wanted from his ex-wife, he decided to try to kill her, his children, the two lawyers who thought he was a headcase and 490+ other people?

No R79? Why would you think that? It's just some info about him

If he did it on purpose this (attempted) murderer should be infected with Covid and left to fend for himself.

[quote]see the side effects from bad prescribing by doctors every day and they tend to be much more cautious about mixing medications that the doctors who get paid off by Big Pharma. However, they also believe in science and I’ve never met a single one who is anti-vaxx. If this guy intentionally ruined a batch of vaxx, the question should be, “What was he trying to achieve by doing so?”

You must have missed those pharmacists who were refusing to issue the morning after pill and birth control due to their religious beliefs.

It's frightening to think that so many mentally unstable people are working in such important jobs.

r84 I think about that a lot -- people whose jobs require sometimes extensive psychological testing who somehow fall through the cracks. The diaper-wearing astronaut comes to mind.

But Robert Hanssen is probably my favorite example:

46-year-old white guy whose wife was divorcing him, and his divorce lawyers kept quitting on him. Obviously he has some kind of grievance against the world that in some twisted way he's taking out on vaccine recipients.

[quote]Newsome and Cuomo spent months telling people not to trust this vaccine

No they didn't, you idiot.

This is mind boggling to me.

It takes YEARS to become a pharmacist. Almost as long as a physician.

This guy has pissed it all away.

He wanted these people to get vaccinated with a useless vaccine but think that they were vaccinated properly. So it's more messed up than say, dumping all the vaccines out so no one could get it.

When will they NAME him so we can tear him apart like Sebastian in Suddenly Last Summer?

He should be made to pay the dollar value for those vaccines. It costs the govt. tons of money to have them produced. He has to pay.

R90, don’t bother to read the fucking thread or anything.

[quote] This vaccine should be treated like they treat narcotics, under lock and key and a audit log with names and signatures of the health professional who uses the vials.

Well, I don’t know what dealers you go to, but my dealer can’t be bothered with all that administrative stuff.

I agree with that thought r93 (I’m not that poster), but states don’t have the necessary resources to do this, CLEARLY. We can’t afford to keep going another month like this. It is a massive disaster!!!! If we have vaccines expiring, that’s a FAIL on Trump, god I hate him.

I find it odd that there is nothing on this guy and the mainstream media isn't even revealing his name. He must have had a social media persona that was not tied to his real name. Any time you have these weirdos doing sociopathic stuff like this, the media goes and asks the neighbors what kind of a person they are.

We've heard everything there is to hear about Eelaria Baldwin from her neighbors in MA, NY, and even the neighbors of her parents in Spain, but no one has time to head out and talk to Steven Brandenburg's neighbors?

R95, maybe they are afraid if they give this psycho a ton of attention, the other crazies will get ideas.

They’ve already interviewed the neighbors. They’re saying that a licensed pharmacist named Steven Brandenburg, who worked at the hospital where this happened, was booked into the right county jail on the right date for the right charges.

They’ll name him as the suspect as soon as he’s been formally charged.

[quote]"He's a pharmacist. Like doctors, they're there to take an oath to help people not hurt people. And that's what I think got me the most is he was supposed to help people in the hospital, but he actually hurt them more," said the suspect's neighbor, Tim Skow.

[quote]Skow said he doesn't know the suspect well, but he saw him get taken away in handcuffs.

[quote]"With him being a pharmacist, he should actually know how bad this coronavirus is. And why he did it, I have no idea. But it was a stupid thing for him to do," he said.

Muriel isn’t accepting my link. It’s CBS58 dot com, “He was supposed to help people”: Grafton neighbor shocked by arrest of former Aurora pharmacist.

No justifying his behavior, but it sounds like his life was spiraling out of control. Hurt people hurt people and a deliberate act, no matter how evil, allowed him to feel some sense of control.

White guy in his thirties going through divorce , has issues with women, and leans right wing.

Normally he'd be mass shooting in a movie theater or concert or nightclub. But since all those places are closed, he's forced to do his mass murder in a more passive aggressive way.

[quote] White guy in his thirties

He’s in his forties.

He told DL he looks like his early 30s.

[quote] He’s in his forties.

He actually looks older.

[quote] R70 we don't know what the motives were yet.

What is wrong with you? You actually think there might be a motive that justifies this? God damn, are you brain damaged?

“He’d formed this belief they were unsafe,” Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said during a virtual hearing. He added that Brandenburg was upset because he and his wife are divorcing, and an Aurora employee said Brandenburg had taken a gun to work twice.

A detective wrote in a probable cause statement that Brandenburg, 46, is an admitted conspiracy theorist and that he told investigators he intentionally tried to ruin the vaccine because it could hurt people by changing their DNA.

...

Brandenburg’s attorney, Jason Baltz, did not speak on the merits of the case during the hearing. Gerol held off on filing any charges, saying he still needs to determine whether Brandenburg actually destroyed the doses.

Judge Paul Malloy ordered Brandenburg to be released on a $10,000 signature bond, surrender his firearms, not work in health care and have no contact with Aurora employees.

Brandenburg’s wife of eight years filed for divorce in June. The couple has two small children

According to an affidavit his wife filed on Dec. 30, the same day Brandenburg was arrested in the vaccine tampering, he stopped off at her house on Dec. 6 and dropped off a water purifier and two 30-day supplies of food, telling her that the world was “crashing down” and she was in denial. He said the government was planning cyberattacks and was going to shut down the power grid.

She added that he was storing food in bulk along with guns in rental units and she no longer felt safe around him. A court commissioner on Monday found that Brandenburg’s children were in imminent danger and temporarily prohibited them from staying with him.

All that education to be a pharmacist and this guy falls for the BS on social media about the vaccine changing your DNA.

Good lord, the story at r104 is terrifying.

I wish I could say I was surprised to hear my fellow GenXers are reactionary, conspiratorial idiots, but I grew up with them, and there are a lot of massively damaged people my age. Neglected and often abused as kids, they're now completely unable to function in society. Wonder how many of them had been normal until their middle aged years, and then it all fell apart?

[quote] All that education to be a pharmacist and this guy falls for the BS on social media about the vaccine changing your DNA.

Exactly. Do pharmacists get a doctorate? How do educated people fall for this shit that probably originated from a teenager doing it for the lolz?

Especially someone who is, ostensibly at least, familiar with pharmacology.

Yikes at R104.

And to think that he's actually on the more "rational" side of the Doomsday Prepper spectrum. He IS a pharmacist, after all.

Can you imagine the kind of crazy going on in the heads of the real wackos?

Mass radicalization of the right wing.

Pharmaceutical license suspended.