WITI-TV, MILWAUKEE -
Police have found a truck filled with H1N1 vaccines that was stolen while delivering the vaccines to a H1N1 flu clinic.
Around 8:00 p.m. Thursday evening a refrigerated truck filled with approximately 800 H1N1 vaccines arrived at its delivery site. After arriving the driver stepped out of his truck, and left the vehicle running. After the driver left the truck an unknown individual took off with the truck full of vaccines. The truck contained a mixture of nasal and injection vaccines.
The person who stole the truck full of vaccines most likely had no idea what the truck actually contains. The truck was found undamaged near 12th and Vine within a half hour of it being stolen. When police found the stolen truck there was no one inside the truck.
Capt. Michael Massa of the Milwaukee Police Department calls this a crime of opportunity and says it appears that someone took the refrigerated truck for a joyride.
Milwaukee police have no suspects in this case, but Massa says the investigation is ongoing.
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevin Baker says the city's health department is doing it's own internal investigation. He wants to reassure citizens that the flu clinic at South Division High School will go on as planned.
Because the vaccines were out of the custody of the health department for nearly a half hour the health department cannot verify the integrity of the vaccine. This means that the Milwaukee Department of Health will have to send all the stolen vaccine doses to the state. Baker explains that the state will make the necessary preparation to discard or re-inventory the recently recovered doses.
The Milwaukee Health Department says this will not impact their operation, and that they still have vaccines to dispense. Baker says the city still has around 2,000 doses to distribute to the public, not counting the doses we have yet to receive.
Around 8:00 p.m. Thursday evening a refrigerated truck filled with approximately 800 H1N1 vaccines arrived at its delivery site. After arriving the driver stepped out of his truck, and left the vehicle running. After the driver left the truck an unknown individual took off with the truck full of vaccines. The truck contained a mixture of nasal and injection vaccines.
The person who stole the truck full of vaccines most likely had no idea what the truck actually contains. The truck was found undamaged near 12th and Vine within a half hour of it being stolen. When police found the stolen truck there was no one inside the truck.
Capt. Michael Massa of the Milwaukee Police Department calls this a crime of opportunity and says it appears that someone took the refrigerated truck for a joyride.
Milwaukee police have no suspects in this case, but Massa says the investigation is ongoing.
Milwaukee Health Commissioner Bevin Baker says the city's health department is doing it's own internal investigation. He wants to reassure citizens that the flu clinic at South Division High School will go on as planned.
Because the vaccines were out of the custody of the health department for nearly a half hour the health department cannot verify the integrity of the vaccine. This means that the Milwaukee Department of Health will have to send all the stolen vaccine doses to the state. Baker explains that the state will make the necessary preparation to discard or re-inventory the recently recovered doses.
The Milwaukee Health Department says this will not impact their operation, and that they still have vaccines to dispense. Baker says the city still has around 2,000 doses to distribute to the public, not counting the doses we have yet to receive.
