MADISON, Wisconsin (AP) – A Wisconsin pharmacist who believed the world was “collapsing,” told police he was trying to ruin hundreds of doses of coronavirus vaccine because he believed the shots would mutate people’s DNA, according to court documents that Monday are released.
Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, last week arrested attorney Aurora Health pharmacist Steven Brandenburg after investigating the 57 tainted vials of the Moderna vaccine, which officials say contained enough doses to inoculate more than 500 people. . There are costs pending.
“He had formed the belief that they were unsafe,” Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol said at a virtual hearing. He added that Brandenburg was upset that he and his wife are divorcing, and an Aurora employee said that Brandenburg twice brought a gun to work.
One detective wrote in a likely cause statement that Brandenburg, 46, is a well-known conspiracy theorist and that he told investigators he intentionally tried to ruin the vaccine because it could harm people by altering their DNA.
Misinformation about the COVID-19 vaccines has risen online and false claims are circulating about everything from the vaccines’ ingredients to the potential side effects.
One of the first false claims suggested the vaccines could alter DNA. The Pfizer and BioNTech vaccines and the Moderna vaccines rely on messenger RNA or mRNA, a fairly new technology used in vaccines that experts have been working on for years. MRNA vaccines help train the immune system to identify the spike protein on the surface of the coronavirus and create an immune response. Experts have said the claims that the vaccines can genetically modify humans are untrue.
Advocate Aurora Health Care Chief Medical Group Officer Jeff Bahr has said that Brandenburg admitted to deliberately removing the vials from the refrigeration at the Grafton Medical Center from December 24 to December 25, returning them and then leaving them on the night of December . 25 to Saturday.
A pharmacy technician discovered the bottles outside the refrigerator on December 26. Bahr said that initially Brandenburg said he removed the bottles to access other items in the refrigerator and that he had not accidentally returned them. The Moderna vaccine is viable for 12 hours out of the refrigerator, so workers used the vaccine to inoculate 57 people before discarding the rest. Police said the disposed doses were worth between $ 8,000 and $ 11,000.
Bahr said the doses people received on Dec. 26 are virtually useless. But Gerol said at the hearing that the vials were actually kept and that Moderna should test the doses to make sure they are ineffective before he can press charges.
Brandenburg’s attorney, Jason Baltz, did not discuss the substance of the case at the hearing. Gerol has not filed any charges, as he has yet to determine whether Brandenburg actually destroyed the doses.
Judge Paul Malloy ordered Brandenburg to be held on a $ 10,000 signature, hand in his firearms, not work in health care, and not interact with Aurora employees.
Brandenburg’s eight-year-old wife filed for divorce in June. The couple have two small children.
According to an affidavit his wife filed Dec. 30, the same day Brandenburg was arrested for tampering with the vaccine, he stopped at her home on Dec. 6 and delivered a water purifier and two 30-day food supplies. that the world “collapsed” and they were in denial. He said the government is planning cyber attacks and would shut down the power grid.
She added that he stored food in bulk along with weapons in rental units and that she no longer felt safe with him. A court commissioner on Monday determined that the Brandenburg children were in immediate danger and temporarily banned them from staying with him.
Online court records show that the Brandenburg divorce attorney pulled out of the case on Dec. 28.
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Minneapolis Associated Press writer Doug Glass contributed to this report.