Wisconsin Health System: Aurora Medical Center employee intentionally tainted the vaccine

GRAFTON, Delete. – A Wisconsin health system official said on Wednesday that 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine that had to be discarded after being left unrefrigerated now appear to have been deliberately tainted by an employee.

Aurora Medical Center first reported the tainted doses on Saturday, saying they had been accidentally left out overnight by an employee at their facility in Grafton.

In a statement late on Wednesday, Aurora said the affected employee “acknowledged today that they deliberately removed the vaccine from the refrigerator.”

Aurora’s statement said they had fired the employee and referred the matter to authorities for further investigation. Their statement said nothing about a possible motive for the action, and health system officials did not immediately respond to reports asking for more information.

“We continue to believe vaccination is our way out of the pandemic. We are more than disappointed that this person’s actions will result in a delay of more than 500 people getting their vaccine,” the statement said.

Aurora declined to provide additional information, but said they would provide more details on Thursday.

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