A Pharmacist Who Deliberately Ruined COVID Vaccine Doses Is Going To Prison : NPR
S E E D E D C O N T E N T
June 8, 20217:58 PM ET
The Associated Press
Ozaukee County Sheriff via AP
MILWAUKEE — A former pharmacist in Wisconsin who purposefully ruined more than 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine was sentenced to three years in prison on Tuesday.
Steven Brandenburg, 46, of Grafton, pleaded guilty in February to two felony counts of attempting to tamper with a consumer product. He had admitted to intentionally removing the doses manufactured by Moderna from a refrigerator for hours at Aurora Medical Center in Grafton, located just north of Milwaukee.
In a statement before receiving his sentence, Brandenburg said he felt "great shame" and accepted responsibility for his actions. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel reported he apologized to his co-workers, family and the community.
Aurora destroyed most of the tampered doses, but not before 57 people received inoculations from the supply. Those doses are believed to have still been effective, but weeks of uncertainty created a storm of anger, anxiety and anguish among the recipients, according to court documents.
Prosecutors asked for a sentence of three years and five months. Brandenburg faced a maximum penalty of 10 years of imprisonment at $250,000 in fines for each felony count.
Brandenburg is an admitted conspiracy theorist who believes he is a prophet and vaccines are a product of the devil. He also professed a belief that the Earth is flat and the 9/11 terrorist attacks were faked.
Brandenburg also secretly substituted saline for flu vaccine that he was mandated to receive and persuaded several co-workers to secretly swap saline for their flu vaccine as well, according to court filings.
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I'm not sure how such a person graduates from pharmacy school.
I'm not a bit surprised.
Seems that the conspiracy theorists have infiltrated most every walk of life
They're whack jobs! And this incident is an example of the harm they can do to others. I doubt his sincerity in his regret for his actions.
Agreed. He's sorry he got caught.
That is the problem with those who cannot or will not think critically. It is extremely easy to invent a conspiracy theory since one is connecting very few dots. One can speculate almost any scenario with only a few constraining dots (facts).
If one is seriously trying to discover the truth of a matter one needs to get solid corroborating facts that yield a single plausible interpretation. One should refrain from believing hypothetical speculation and certainly refrain from acting on same.
In short, there are too many nutcases running around in society.
And we are mainly focused on these anti-vaccine nutcases in the U.S. (& rightfully so)-- the MAGA-style anti vacc. craziness has been copied outside of the U.S. as well:
Belgium's Top COVID-19 Scientist Is Being Hunted By A Far-Right Sniper
For nearly three weeks Belgium's leading virologist has been living in a safehouse with his wife and 12-year-old son, guarded by security agents.
While scientists across the world have come under attack throughout the pandemic, the threat to Prof Marc Van Ranst is more serious than most.
He has been targeted by a far-right rogue soldier, Jürgen Conings, who has a vendetta for virologists and Covid lockdowns. The military shooting instructor went on the run with rocket launcher and a machine gun, and Belgian police cannot find him.
He should get the maximum penalty.
A piece of shit wackjob.
Who knows what all else he tampered with.