Police and U.S. federal authorities are investigating after a Wisconsin health center said an employee admitted to deliberately smashing 500 doses of coronavirus vaccine.
Aurora Medical Center in Grafton first reported that the doses had broken down on Saturday, saying a staff member had accidentally left them out of refrigeration overnight. On Wednesday, however, he said the doses appeared to have been deliberately damaged.
Grafton police, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said the department, the FBI and the Food and Drug Administration were investigating the case.
Police said they received notification of the alleged manipulation Wednesday night, but that no other information would be released immediately. They refused to say whether any arrests had been made.
American case graph
In a statement on Wednesday afternoon, Aurora said the employee involved “acknowledged that he intentionally removed the vaccine from the refrigerator.” Aurora said she had fired the person in question and referred the matter to authorities. The statement said nothing about a possible reason for the action.
“We continue to believe that vaccination is our way out of the pandemic. We are more than disappointed that this individual’s actions translate into a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine, ”the statement said.