Wisconsin Employee Who Mishandled 500 Vaccine Doses Arrested, To Be Charged

Reposted from Kelly Fisher

The Wisconsin pharmacist who was fired for allegedly botching more than 500 of doses of the COVID-19 vaccine has been arrested in connection with the incident.

Officials arrested the pharmacist on New Year’s Eve (December 31), accusing the employee of several felonies. Those include reckless endangerment, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property, according to the Associated Press. The doses that were tossed out in the incident were worth around $8,000 to $11,000, according to police.

Awaiting formal charges, authorities have not named the employee as of Monday (January 4).

An internal investigation at the Advocate Aurora Health facility in Grafton, outside of Milwaukee, initially showed that the incident happened because of “unintended human error.”

Dozens of vials of the vaccine were removed from a refrigerator on Christmas Day (December 25) and not immediately placed back inside to refrigerate overnight.

Later, however, Aurora Health found that the employee “intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration,” a statement read. The employee was then fired.

“We continue to believe that vaccination is our way out of the pandemic,” the statement continued. “We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine.”

Advocate Aurora Health Care Chief Medical Group Officer Jeff Bahr confirmed on December 31 that the unnamed employee removed 57 vials containing enough doses for about 570 patients.