Steven R. Brandenburg, 46, was also ordered to pay about $83,800
in compensation to the hospital at which he worked, according to
a statement on Tuesday from the U.S. Attorney's Office of
the Eastern District of Wisconsin.
Brandenburg had agreed to plead guilty to two counts of
attempting to tamper with consumer products with reckless
disregard for the risk that another person would be placed in
danger of death or bodily injury.
Court documents showed he purposefully removed a box of COVID-19
vaccine vials from a hospital refrigeration unit during two
successive overnight shifts in December last year, the Justice
Department said in its statement.
Brandenburg was skeptical of vaccines in general and the Moderna
vaccine specifically, and that he communicated his beliefs to
his co-workers for at least the past two years, it said.
Moderna's vaccine has to be stored and shipped frozen but does
not require ultra-cold temperatures and can be stored for 30
days in standard-temperature refrigerators.
(Reporting by Derek Francis in Bengaluru; Editing by Robert
Birsel)
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