Yesterday, Allahpundit delved into the story of the Wisconsin hospital worker who was fired for “spoiling” more than 500 doses of vaccine by removing them from the refrigerator and leaving them on a counter all night. I confess I was a little confused by that report. I mean, that must be an accident, right? What kind of person would do that on purpose? But it turns out that further investigation has revealed that the unnamed employee confessed to doing it on purpose. Now he has been arrested and is facing a number of charges. (WaPo)
A pharmacist accused of deliberately spoiling more than 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine in a hospital outside of Milwaukee was arrested Thursday afternoon, local authorities said.
Police in Grafton, Wisconsin, arrested the unnamed man on recommended charges of first-degree recklessness that endangered security, falsifying a prescription drug, and criminal property damage. According to a statement from the police, he is being held in prison.
The alleged episode, at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., Touched national anger as a limited number of shots are rationed to high-risk individuals. The estimated value of the doses, which totaled a whopping $ 11,000 according to authorities, pales in comparison to the protections they may have afforded health workers on the forefront of the growing pandemic.
This story is even stranger than it first appeared. According to the police, the man admitted in writing that he had done the deed, further commenting that he was fully aware that if the bottles were stored improperly “the vaccine would not be effective. “My first thought was to wonder why he confessed when he could have just said he had made a mistake. I suppose it’s possible he told someone else about his actions and they reported him to the police or a supervisor.
To make matters worse, he didn’t do this once. He did it twice. He reportedly left the bottles on Christmas Eve, returned them to their refrigerated warehouse in the morning and did the same the following evening. On Saturday, thinking they had only been left out for one night and were still fine, the hospital rushed to use the vials to vaccinate “a few dozen people.” But now it turns out that those people may not get the full degree of expected immunity if they see any benefit at all. These several dozen people will probably have to come back for a new round of treatment.
What could have motivated this man? This just doesn’t sound like some kind of joke that even a very annoying person would pull off as there is no real payoff to it. He thought, ‘ha ha, you thought you were vaccinated but you’re still vulnerable? ‘For a group of total strangers? I suppose there are some people out there who are just bad bastards causing chaos and damage just to do it, but even if that’s the case here, it’s a really bizarre way to cause trouble.
They’re apparently not considering charging the man with attempted murder, but they’re going to try to recklessly endanger them. There are also a few more pedestrian charges related to property damage and falsification of prescription drugs. I suppose that’s fair, and I wouldn’t be surprised if a court decides to throw the book at him to set an example.
Meanwhile, although it does not appear to have been intentional, 42 people in West Virginia were accidentally given antibody treatment when they thought they were getting the vaccine. (The hill)
Officials in West Virginia accidentally gave 42 people a COVID-19 antibody treatment in place of Moderna’s vaccine.
The West Virginia National Guard said in a statement Wednesday that it “learned of an error” that led to the individuals receiving Regeneron’s COVID-19 antibody treatment in place of the vaccine.
The Department of Health says they do not believe recipients are at any risk from the antibody treatment. All people who received it will be called back and offered the actual vaccine.
The curious thing about this snafu is that the antibody treatment is given through an IV line, not a rapid injection with a syringe. Wouldn’t the people looking for a vaccination notice that something was different? Maybe not, I guess, especially if they don’t work in healthcare. But what about the workers in the clinic? If they knew they were going to administer vaccines and were suddenly told to connect patients to an IV line, wouldn’t they be asking some questions?
I don’t think we can come to the clinic too fast. This is one of the largest rollouts of a brand new vaccine the nation has ever seen. No doubt some mistakes would have been made along the way. Let’s hope none of them turn out to be literally fatal errors.