(Reuters) – A Wisconsin pharmacist has agreed to plead guilty to deliberately trying to spoil hundreds of doses of Moderna’s COVID-19 vaccine in an attempt to render them ineffective, the United States Department of Justice said.
According to the Justice Department statement, Steven Brandenburg, 46, is accused of two attempts to tamper with consumer products and of reckless disregard for the risk that another person will be endangered by death or physical injury.
Bit.ly/3qUNXVI stated that he believed in several “conspiracy theories” and was skeptical of vaccines in general and Moderna’s vaccine in particular.
The United States Food and Drug Administration has considered Moderna’s vaccine safe and effective.
Brandenburg has signed a plea deal pleading guilty to the charges, each of which carries a maximum sentence of ten years in prison, the statement said.
In late December, he deliberately removed a box of COVID-19 vaccine from a refrigerator at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wisconsin on two consecutive night shifts so that he could ruin its effectiveness, the statement said.
He left them for several hours before returning them to the refrigerator for use by the clinic the next day, the statement said, adding that 57 people had already received doses of the vaccine from those vials before his behavior was discovered .
Moderna’s vaccine must be stored and shipped frozen, but does not require ultra-cold temperatures and can be stored in standard temperature refrigerators for 30 days.
Reporting by Bhargav Acharya in Bengaluru; Editing by Raju Gopalakrishnan