Pharmacist Ruins Hundreds of Vaccine Doses, Believing It Would Mutate People
A bottle of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine is seen during a press conference on December 23, 2020 in Fort Lauderdale, Florida. Broward Health Medical Center began vaccinating frontline healthcare workers last week with the Pfizer-BioNtech COVID-19 vaccine and are continuing to inoculate frontline caregivers with both of the vaccines after the arrival of the Moderna. Joe Raedle/Getty Images

One pharmacist told police that he tried to ruin hundreds of thousands of coronavirus vaccine as he believed that the shots would mutate people's DNA. This was according to court documents released on Monday, as reported by an Associated Press News report.

Grafton police arrested a pharmacist working at Advocate Aurora last week after an investigation into the 57 spoiled vials of the Moderna vaccine. Officials said that those contained enough doses to vaccinate more than 500 people.

Charges are still pending for Steven Brandenburg. Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said in a virtual hearing that Brandenburg had formed a belief that the COVID-19 vaccines were unsafe.

Gerol added that the suspect was upset because he and his wife are divorcing. One Aurora employee said that Brandenburg had taken a gun to work twice.

Police said that they were notified by hospital security on Wednesday about an employee tampering with vials of COVID-19 vaccine, according to a WebMD News brief.

The health care company was led to believe that the vials, which contained 10 doses each, were removed from the refrigerator in error.

However, on Wednesday, Brandenburg acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from the refrigerator, according to Advocated Aurora Health's statement.

Pharmacist fired after ruining vaccine doses

A pharmacy technician was reported to have discovered the vials outside the refrigerator on Dec. 26. Brandenburg is no longer employed with the company.

"We are more than disappointed that this individual's action will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine," the company was quoted on a report.

Moderna said that its vaccine can be kept at room temperature for up to 12 hours before it has to be thrown out.

Hospital workers were able to administer a few doses of the vaccine as the vials were found inside the 12-hour time frame. However, most had to be discarded.

Gerol said that the said vials may need to be tested for Moderna for confirmation. This would also need a clarification from the health care company, he added.

The judge set a $10,000 signature bond and Brandenburg must surrender all his firearms to sheriff's deputies, and would no longer be allowed to work in the health care field.

Brandenburg was also ordered not to have any contact with Aurora employees, according to an ABC News report.

Brandenburg also said that he is an admitted conspiracy theorist. The Federal Bureau of Investigation and U.S. Food and Drug Administration are also looking at the case.

Police said that the discarded doses were worth between $8,000 and $11,000. It is not yet clear when Brandenburg will be back in court. He was also released from custody on Monday afternoon.

Vaccine refrigeration

Meanwhile, temperature controls for Moderna were not as challenging as for the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine.

The latter's vaccine requires shipment and storage at deep freeze conditions, which is -70 degrees Celsius or -80 degrees Celsius.

On the other hand, the Moderna vaccine can be shipped and stored for up to six months at -20 degree Celsius, which is a temperature equal to most home or medical freezers.