A Detroit nurse was caught red-handed when she swiped two doses of the Moderna COVID-19 vaccine this week, according to a new report.
The unknown nurse was arrested Monday when another employee saw her walking away from her work area at the TCF Center – a convention center that now serves as a vaccination site – with two syringes of the vaccine, WJBK reported.
The employee has notified Detroit security and police. When authorities tried to confront her, she apparently declined to answer questions and sought a lawyer, the report said.
Now she can be prosecuted and even lose her driver’s license.
Hakim Berry, the chief operating officer of the city of Detroit, said he was “really shocked” by the nurse’s actions.
“I’m not sure what your motives were,” he said of the nurse. “And hopefully you understand the seriousness of what you have done.”
The nurse is not affiliated with a hospital and is probably affiliated with an employment agency that, according to WJBK, helps bring in nurses to TCF.
Strict security protocols at the center likely allowed the nurse to be caught before she could leave the building with the stolen syringes, Berry said.
“Our vaccines are stored off-site in a very secure location that has been alerted and alerted [there is] 24-7 security around it, ”he said. “When vaccines are taken from a pharmacy to the nursing station, they are accompanied by security guards.”
Although the two doses were supposed to be taken as police evidence and couldn’t be used, anyone scheduled for a vaccination was given one anyway, according to the outlet.
According to Berry, a total of 109,000 people have been vaccinated at the TCF Center since January 13.
The federal government provided the doses to the city’s health department, the Detroit News reported.
Detroit police are continuing the investigation, Chief James Craig told the outlet.