TikTok/Rxorcist
January 5, 2021, 6:47 am*
The identity of the Wisconsin pharmacist accused of intentionally destroying 570 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine was discovered by an online detective as Grafton resident Steven Brandenburg, and she found out before it was publicly announced.
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Just before the new year, it was found that a then-unnamed pharmacist had ruined hundreds of doses of the Moderna vaccine by leaving them out at room temperature long enough to effectively destroying them.
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According to a Reuters report, “57 vials of vaccine were found left out of cold storage.” The employee of Advocate Aurora Health in Grafton was fired but wasn’t publically identified.
Reports say that Brandenburg had pulled them out on Christmas Eve until the morning, returned them, then left them out again on Christmas night until Saturday.
Additionally, from the Reuters reporting, “each vial contains ten doses. Nearly 60 of the doses in question were administered before hospital officials determined the medication had been left unrefrigerated long enough to render the vaccine ineffective. The remaining 500-plus doses were then discarded.”
The pharmacist “knew that spoiled vaccinations would be useless and that people who had received the vaccinations would think they had been vaccinated against the virus when in fact they were not,” according to Grafton police.
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However, a TikToker with the handle @rk0rcist, or Savannah, decided to do some sleuthing of her own. On Dec. 31, before the mainstream had publicly named the suspect, she had already figured out the identity.
In the video, she says she cross-referenced the recent inmates in Grafton’s jail system with employees registered with the Wisconsin Board of Pharmacy database. She also fortified the data with other unnamed sources.
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“So if you see this asshole out and about the Wisconsin area, give him one of these for me,” she says, then flips off the camera.
Moreover, a subsequent AP story revealed that Bradenburg believed the vaccine was unsafe.
“He’d formed this belief they were unsafe,” Ozaukee County District Attorney Adam Gerol via a virtual hearing, per AP. He also noted Brandenburg’s sorrow stemming from a pending divorce and said an Aurora employee stated that Brandenburg had twice brought a gun to work. However, he did not explain Brandenburg’s rationale for destroying the material.
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Judge Paul Malloy set a $10,000 signature bond for Brandenburg. He was commanded to surrender all firearms to sheriff’s deputies and cease any contact with Aurora employees.
*First Published: January 5, 2021, 6:45 am
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