What is going on in Wisconsin?

The Associated Press reported a Wisconsin healthcare worker deliberately spoiled 500 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine.

“A Wisconsin health system said Wednesday that 500 doses of COVID-19 vaccine that had to be discarded after they were left unrefrigerated now appear to have been deliberately spoiled by an employee.”

An Advocate Aurora Health employee in Milwaukee "intentionally" removed 57 vials of the Moderna coronavirus vaccine from refrigeration. They have been fired for doing so, Advocate Aurora Health said in a press release. https://t.co/u9f9GqCQ6t

— LEX 18 News (@LEX18News) December 31, 2020

Because this is a federal endeavor, the alphabet organizations FDA and FBI are now involved. From the Detroit News,

“Police in Grafton, about 20 miles north of Milwaukee, said in a statement that the department, FBI and Food and Drug Administration are “actively” investigating the case. Police said they were notified of the alleged tampering Wednesday night. Police said Thursday morning that no other information would be immediately released, and declined to say if any arrests have been made.”

I have my questions and misgivings about the COVID vaccines, and have no plans to get treated with it any time soon—that seems to be the case with a lot of Black folks. A long history of using the Black population as guinea pigs has bred a distrust and disregard that is hard to surmount.

But not everyone feels this way. There are some people who are desperate to have this vaccine, and as long as they know the risks, they should be able to have it. So, this type of disregard for your fellow human being is just downright wrong.

According to news reports, no motive was given on why this healthcare worker acted in such a fashion. A  local ABC affiliate reported in early December that Advocate Aurora Health, the parent company of Aurora Medical Center, would be one of the main distributors for the COVID-19 vaccine:

“Advocate Aurora Health is also planning for vaccine distribution.

“We’ve had a vaccine steering committee in place for well over a month and we’ve accomplished quite a bit, building a scaffolding.” We’ll be ready to go when the vaccines are available,” said Executive Medical Director of Infectious Disease and Prevention Dr. Robert Citronberg.

“The preliminary Wisconsin Department of Health Services phase one plan calls for prioritizing health care workers, then people in assisted living facilities, then other essential workers.

“Phase two would ‘expand to other critical populations to be determined and eventually the general public when vaccine supply is sufficient.’ “

Aurora Medical Center issued a statement on the now-fired employee’s action:

“In a statement late Wednesday, Aurora said the employee involved ‘acknowledged that they intentionally removed the vaccine from refrigeration.’

“Aurora said it has fired the employee and referred the matter to the authorities. The statement said nothing about a possible motive 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 will result in a delay of more than 500 people receiving their vaccine,’ the statement said.”