Former Grafton pharmacist who sabotaged COVID-19 vaccines is a flat-Earther

FBI documents show the Grafton pharmacist who was charged with trying to destroy COVID-19 vaccines is a flat-Earther. 

Steven Brandenburg, 46, worked the third shift at Aurora Health in Grafton on Dec. 24 and Dec. 25 when he left vials of the Moderna vaccine out of the refrigerator, which he knew would ruin the doses.

A search warrant shows that Brandenburg, who faces federal charges, believed the Earth was flat along with other theories. 

He was a licensed pharmacist since 1997, but the Wisconsin Pharmacy Examining Board suspended his license in January when he was accused of ruining more than 500 doses of the vaccine. 

Documents show a coworker found the box of vaccines outside of the refrigerator and suspected Brandenburg left the box out because of his “vocal convictions against the vaccine.”

The coworker told authorities that Brandenburg believed the vaccine was going to harm people. 

She told authorities that Brandenburg thought the vaccine was micro-chipped and would “turn off people’s birth control” and make others infertile. She said he had been voicing his theories for months at work to anyone who would listen, according to the search warrant. 

The coworker told investigators during an interview on Jan. 6 that Brandenburg was “very engaged in conspiracy theories,” including that the Earth is flat and that the sky is not real, but a shield put up by the government to prevent individuals from seeing God. 

Brandenburg first told authorities he had accidentally left the vaccines out, but later in a phone interview and an email admitted to leaving them out on purpose because he believed they were harmful. 

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