# FORMER Wisconsin hospital employee deliberately destroys \>500 doses of COVID vaccine **URL:** \ **Category:** The BBQ Pit\ **Created:** [December 31, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323 "2020-12-31T04:52:16Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:52am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/1 "2020-12-31T04:52:16Z")
I sure hope whoever did this, regardless of why, gets the book thrown at them - jail time, license revocation if applicable, etc. Over the years, I worked with a few people who might have done something like this, because reasons (and possibly gotten away with it, too). > **[Some 500 Coronavirus Vaccine Doses Intentionally Destroyed, Hospital Says](https://www.npr.org/2020/12/30/951736164/some-500-coronavirus-vaccine-doses-intentionally-destroyed-hospital-says?utm_term=nprnews&utm_source=facebook.com&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=npr&fbclid=IwAR2KzAnD3WSxKmpuhD7Ur0HC5-GNhW22iS27PSIKdwueDA2Zi6ozgdYmrt8)** > > Officials at the Wisconsin medical center first suspected a now-former employee inadvertently left the Moderna drugs out of cold storage. But an investigation concludes they were deliberately removed. If you don’t believe in it for yourself, that’s one thing. This is quite another. ---
**Author:** ![teelabrown](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/teelabrown/32/8412_2.png) [@teelabrown](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/teelabrown)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 4:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/2 "2020-12-31T16:12:12Z")
Why did they do it? Trying to steal it, or anti-vaxxer? The linked article doesn’t speculate. ---
**Author:** ![Skywatcher](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/skywatcher/32/254_2.png) [@Skywatcher](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Skywatcher)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 5:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/3 "2020-12-31T17:11:12Z")
> [@teelabrown](#): > > Why did they do it? Trying to steal it, or anti-vaxxer? Right now, the hospital’s official position is “inadvertent human error” but they’re expected to issue a statement with more details of their investigation at some point today. > **[Wisconsin pharmacist who ‘intentionally’ spoiled more than 500 vaccine doses...](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/31/covid-vaccines-destroyed-wisconsin-hospital/)** > > A worker at a Wisconsin hospital allegedly admitted to deliberately damaging more than 500 doses of the Moderna vaccine over the weekend, sparking an investigation by the FBI, FDA and local police. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 5:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/4 "2020-12-31T17:28:41Z")
Probably took them out of the fridge to make room for some cheese and beer. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/5 "2020-12-31T17:32:39Z")
I get care at that hospital. I could send some of my former patients to have a counselling session with the ex-employee . . . ---
**Author:** ![silenus](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/silenus/32/166_2.png) [@silenus](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/silenus)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/6 "2020-12-31T19:19:06Z")
Charge the idiot with Attempted Murder for a start. Yeah, that’s a hard reach but charge them with it anyway. Make a serious example of them. Give **Qadgop** ’s guys a day pass and a 12-pack. And a couple of crowbars. ---
**Author:** ![Joey\_P](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/j/919ad9/32.png) [@Joey\_P](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Joey_P)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/7 "2020-12-31T19:29:06Z")
The title is a bit misleading. They were ‘deliberately destroyed’ because they sat out at room temperature and were no long usable. They sat out at room temperature because an employee “intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration" to get at something else. It’s a shitty situation all around and the person that took them out has been fired. But all the headlines I see read as if someone saw the vials randomly decided to smash them all. ---
**Author:** ![thorny\_locust](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/thorny_locust/32/431_2.png) [@thorny\_locust](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/thorny_locust)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:53pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/8 "2020-12-31T19:53:24Z")
> [@Joey\_P](#): > > The title is a bit misleading. They were ‘deliberately destroyed’ because they sat out at room temperature and were no long usable. > They sat out at room temperature because an employee “intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration" to get at something else. That appears to be why the hospital originally thought they’d been removed; but the Post article cited above in its current form appears to me to say that two days later the employee admitted having left the vaccine out on purpose. > Initiating an internal review on Monday, hospital officials said they were initially “led to believe” the incident was caused by “inadvertent human error." The vials were removed Friday and most were discarded Saturday, with only a few still safe to administer at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, Wis., according to an earlier statement from the health system. Each vial has enough for 10 vaccinations but can sit at room temperature for only 12 hours. > > Two days later, the employee acknowledged having “intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration,” the system, Aurora Health Care, said in a statement late Wednesday. Because the information’s given in that form (I quoted that portion without internal deletions), I read it as saying that ‘intentionally removed’ means ‘intended to leave the vaccine unrefrigrated’, while the earlier assumption of ‘inadvertent human error’ would cover ‘took it out to get at something else and forgot to put it back’. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 7:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/9 "2020-12-31T19:58:03Z")
Do you know who the person is? ---
**Author:** ![Brayne\_Ded](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/e9bcb4/32.png) [@Brayne\_Ded](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Brayne_Ded)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 8:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/10 "2020-12-31T20:02:39Z")
Leaving them out to warm up has the same effect as smashing the vials. ---
**Author:** ![Robot\_Arm](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/robot_arm/32/18280_2.png) [@Robot\_Arm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robot_Arm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 8:38pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/11 "2020-12-31T20:38:17Z")
Can the vaccine be used immediately after it’s taken out of storage? I thought it had to warm up a bit, first. I’m wondering if this person took the vaccine out of the freezer because they thought it was going to be administered later that day. That would be “intentionally took it out of storage”, but not “intentionally destroyed”. Maybe he’s an anti-vax conspiracy theorist who wanted to ruin the nanobots so Bill Gates couldn’t control the thoughts of 500 people, or maybe there’s more going on than we know yet. ---
**Author:** ![Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/qadgop_the_mercotan/32/83_2.png) [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Qadgop_the_Mercotan)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 9:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/12 "2020-12-31T21:48:46Z")
Reports say it was deliberate removal of the vaccine so it would be no good to use. Further reports say that it was discovered in time to give some of the doses before they went bad, and that some people were vaccinated during that interval. I just go there for occasional scans/consultations. I don’t work there, nor do I know anyone there. I’ve not been affiliated with Aurora since 2002. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/13 "2020-12-31T22:04:39Z")
> [@Qadgop\_the\_Mercotan](#): > > I could send some of my former patients to have a counselling session with the ex-employee . . . But wait. Don’t you work in a… Ohhhhhhh! ---
**Author:** ![ZosterSandstorm](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/e0b2c6/32.png) [@ZosterSandstorm](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZosterSandstorm)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:06pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/14 "2020-12-31T23:06:44Z")
> [@silenus](#): > > Charge the idiot with Attempted Murder for a start. Yeah, that’s a hard reach but charge them with it anyway. Make a serious example of them. Give **Qadgop** ’s guys a day pass and a 12-pack. And a couple of crowbars. If anyone who was on the schedule to get vaccinated gets the virus, then a charge of murder, or whatever sort of assault & battery one would get for intentionally infecting someone with a disease that doesn’t kill them, is appropriate. It’s time to stop coddling these people. One good execution should send the appropriate message to the conspiracy theorists that they need to stay on Twitter and don’t think about interfering with the actual process of public health again. ---
**Author:** ![Locrian](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/locrian/32/14146_2.png) [@Locrian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Locrian)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/15 "2020-12-31T23:14:51Z")
I’m with prosecuting for 500 counts of attempted murder. ---
**Author:** ![nearwildheaven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/90db22/32.png) [@nearwildheaven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nearwildheaven)\ **Post date:** [December 31, 2020, 11:18pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/16 "2020-12-31T23:18:07Z")
It has to be brought up to room temperature, so it’s easier to dilute and less painful to administer. That only takes a few minutes even if it’s frozen at 80 below. That a pharmacist (allegedly) did this doesn’t surprise me at all. Another story said it was a man, although his name hasn’t been released yet, and I bet he’ll turn out to have a reeeeally interesting work history, and not in a good way. ---
**Author:** ![Ranch\_Dip](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranch_dip/32/5238_2.png) [@Ranch\_Dip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranch_Dip)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 12:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/17 "2021-01-01T00:26:07Z")
I’m hoping they decide to treat this as an act of domestic terror and hit that person with homeland security stuff. From what I have read, NPR said it was a pharmacist. ---
**Author:** ![flurb](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/51bf81/32.png) [@flurb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/flurb)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 1:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/18 "2021-01-01T01:16:41Z")
Reports are that the former employee has now been arrested and charged with first-degree recklessly endangering safety, adulterating a prescription drug and criminal damage to property. [Washington Post article (paywall)](https://www.washingtonpost.com/nation/2020/12/31/covid-vaccines-destroyed-wisconsin-hospital/) ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 1:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/19 "2021-01-01T01:22:41Z")
> [@nearwildheaven](#): > > That a pharmacist (allegedly) did this doesn’t surprise me at all. Another story said it was a man, although his name hasn’t been released yet, and I bet he’ll turn out to have a reeeeally interesting work history, and not in a good way. Not disputing you, but would you care to elaborate? Why a pharm, why a male, interesting in what way? ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [January 1, 2021, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323/20 "2021-01-01T01:43:15Z")
What a schmuck. How long does it take to go through pharmacy school and pass the licensing exams? And it’s a reasonably good-paying job, one that he’ll never work at again. [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/former-wisconsin-hospital-employee-deliberately-destroys-500-doses-of-covid-vaccine/929323.md?page=2)