CHICAGO (CBS) – In the spring of 2021, an ad appeared on Craigslist. Someone from Winnetka touting two empty vials of the COVID-19 vaccine as a memento of the pandemic: $35 for the pair. A vial of Moderna and a vial of Pfizer gave the impression in the attached photo.
CBS 2 investigators responded to the ad, contacted the dealer and purchased the vials at a public park near Lake Chicago. Our secret cameras filmed the exchange.
The guy who climbed with vials in hand in a plastic bag told a CBS 2 manufacturer who worked at the pharmacy and waved to the hospital across the street from the park.
During this initial investigation, we discovered that the man, John (Jia) Li, worked at a pharmacy, but at a hospital a few miles to the north, Thorek Memorial Hospital, and was director of pharmacy there.
Now, two and a half years later, we know more about the moves made by hospital directors without delay after we informed them about the sale of vaccine vials and a state investigation was opened.
Public Records Disclosures
After the acquisition in the park, we filed a public record application with the U. S. Department of Health and Human Services’ Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services. The U. S. Department of Agriculture, a federal agency that oversees hospitals.
Records we obtained in 2023 reveal that state investigators from the Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) visited Thorek on April 26, 2021 after someone filed a complaint, reporting that “a media investigation team was able to acquire empty vials of vaccine on Craigslist from a pharmacist working at a local hospital.
The complaint contained in the Division of Health Care Programs and Institutions’ narrative investigative report goes on to say, “Their ability to ‘bag’ empty vials demands protection of the vials where they are administered.
Thorek’s article via Adam Harrington on Scribd
The narrative is a chronology of the resulting investigation.
At 9:10 a. m. , investigators discovered that the front of the pharmacy “is closed and a key card is required to enter. . . »
At 9:30 a. m. , the researchers interviewed E#4, who works at the pharmacy. E#4 described how the pharmacy prepares doses for the COVID vaccination clinic, which at the time was serving about 50 more people per day. He told investigators that the vials never left the pharmacy, only the ready syringes were taken out.
E#4 describes a diary that records the number of vials used according to the day, but the diary does record the disposal of the vials. “Once, our boss (pharmacy manager – E#5) asked me to hand him the vials so they can just get rid of it,” he told investigators, adding, “I think he used the yellow container, but I never looked. “
According to the account, E#4 and three other people who were at the pharmacy on April 26, 2021, described the disposal procedure of depositing empty vials in a special yellow sharps container that would then be recovered through a medical waste disposal company.
The researchers noted in their report: “The rules recommend that disposal of waste similar to that of the COVID-19 vaccine should: dispose of. . . Empty vials. The Ministry of Defense must capture all residues from the vials in sharps boxes to mitigate possible diversions and illicit acts. “intention.
At 11:55 a. m. , state fitness investigators reported speaking with E#1 at the administrative set describing the CBS 2 News call on April 22, 2021, asking “what was the procedure for removing vaccine vials. “
E#1 told investigators that the hospital’s control team met promptly after the call to discuss next steps. When the pharmacy called to be informed about the disposal practices, pharmacy manager John Li said he sold the vials on Craigslist. When Li arrived at the paintings the next day, Friday, April 23, 2021, he was “suspended and sent home. “
E#1 told researchers that a new policy was implemented on April 24, 2021, requiring two pharmacy workers to witness the disposal of empty vials: “I didn’t think this was enough to ensure compliance, so starting today (4/26/2021) we created a stock register of vials gained and distributed, which must be signed through a member of the pharmacy and a nursing supervisor. The removal procedure will also require the signature of a nurse and the pharmacy verifying the destruction of the vial. before its disposal. “
At approximately 1:30 p. m. on April 26, 2021, E#1 the new “Inventory and disposal of COVID-19 vaccines” policy. In addition to the required signatures from pharmacies and nurses, the policy required vials to be “shredded with a rubber mallet and disposed of in the hazardous waste container. “
The state’s investigation found no health risks to patients as a result of Li promoting the vials on Craigslist. But it proved that it had sold them on Craigslist and, as a result, the hospital replaced its policies to prevent this from falling again.
Continuation of the investigation.
Al Carter reviewed the state’s investigative files.
“I think it’s a little exaggerated, but it’s a mandatory thing given the scenario that occurred at your pharmacy,” he said.
Carter is the director of the National Association of Boards of Pharmacy.
It is more closely related to what happened to the hospital’s pharmacy director, John Li.
“He’s been fired,” Carter said. Pharmacists have a duty to provide quality physical care and protect the physical care of the citizens of the state of Illinois, and what he did was the opposite of that. “
Again, research records do reveal harm to hospitalized patients.
Li’s state pharmacy license remains intact. It is still indexed as an asset without any disciplinary action having been taken. A spokesman for the firm that oversees licensing, the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, said only a “termination” would be disciplinary action. after a hearing through the pharmacy board of directors.
Li’s call keeps appearing in the license records of federal hospitals as a pharmacy manager in Thorek, and his call remains on the voicemail of the hospital’s pharmacy office.
We have asked hospital directors to comment on the new policies implemented after the CBS 2 investigation and John Li’s status, but we have not yet gotten a response.
We also contacted Li through his phone and private. He didn’t answer.
Homeland Security tested and discovered vaccine residues in vials sold to CBS 2, but has filed felony charges against Li. The branch also tells us that there has never been a case like this in the years since.
But abroad the story is different.
In England, a security guard at a vaccination center was arrested in 2021 for stealing dozens of empty vials of COVID vaccine and then reselling them on eBay. He pleaded guilty to fraud by misrepresentation and was sentenced to one year in prison.
The Times of Israel reported that two Israelis were arrested the same year, on suspicion of negligence in handling medicines and theft, for promoting at least nine vials of used Covid vaccine.