January 27, 2021: A US pharmacist has agreed to plead guilty to tampering with COVID-19 vaccine vials because he believed the jabs could harm people, prosecutors say.
Steven Brandenburg, aged 46, was accused of removing 57 vials with 570 doses of the Moderna vaccine from the cold storage in Grafton, Wisconsin, in December. The vaccines become ineffective if not refrigerated.
Brandenburg could have 20 years of jail on two charges of attempting to tamper with consumer products. He also faces a $250,000 fine.
In Wisconsin, the attorney’s office said Brandenburg “signed a plea agreement acknowledging that he was guilty of attempting to render hundreds of doses of Covid-19 vaccine ineffective” on Tuesday.
He was charged “with two counts of attempting to tamper with consumer products, with disregard for the risk that another person can die or face severe bodily injury.”
The pharmacist admits that he “believed in some ‘conspiracy theories’; subscribed to notions of “alternative history”; and was sceptical of vaccines, specifically the Moderna vaccine,” the statement added.
Mr. Brandenburg supposedly tampered with the vials on two successive night shifts at the pharmacy in late December. He would leave the vials out of the refrigerator each time for various hours before keeping them back.
Fifty-seven people had received the jabs from the vials before covering the tampering, the attorney’s office said.
“Pharmacists rank among some of the most trusted professionals,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge Robert Hughes. “This individual used his special access to tamper with vials of the much-needed Covid-19 vaccine.”
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