Ousted Coronavirus Vaccine Director Rick Bright Slams Trump Administration Of Forcibly Silencing Him

Dr. Rick Bright, an ousted coronavirus vaccine director who formerly helmed a U.S. agency that dealt with researching and developing drugs to combat the novel coronavirus, filed a whistle-blower complaint on Tuesday, accusing the Trump administration of trying to silence him as he raised concerns about the pandemic.

Bright, who filed the complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Council, spoke with the U.S. press to provide details. Bright hinted at how his repeated warnings at the onset of the spread fell on deaf ears and were largely met with stiff resistance and skepticism from top officials in the administration—including HSS secretary Alex Azar.

“I was pressured to let politics and cronyism drive decisions over the opinions of the best scientists we have in government,” said Bright during a call with reporters, soon after the complaint was filed. Bright reiterated that the warnings were coupled with genuine concerns for the needs of the frontline workers—bringing notice to the lack of critical supplies like masks, gloves, and the like.

The complaint filed by Bright’s attorney reads as “Dr. Bright acted with urgency to begin to address this pandemic but encountered resistance from HHS leadership, including Secretary Azar, who appeared intent on downplaying this catastrophic threat.” In his complaint, Bright also revealed that he suffered a strained relationship with the HHS leadership, which was compounded by the coronavirus.

The complaint adds that Bright has allegedly been fighting against “cronyism and award of contracts to companies with political connections to the administration” since 2017.

Bright will present his arguments before a U.S. House of Representatives panel on May 14, as revealed by his spokeswoman on Twitter on Tuesday.

The ousted health director’s claims were pushed back by HSS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley who refuted Bright’s statements with a contradicting stance. As per a recent report, Oakley maintained that Bright wasn’t offered a step-down from his exiting position but was rather “transferred to a job where he was entrusted to spend around US$1 billion to develop diagnostic testing.”

“We are deeply disappointed that he has not shown up to work on behalf of the American people and lead on this critical endeavor,” said Oakley.

With the death toll in the U.S. reaching the 70,000 mark, the Trump administration has drawn immense flak for downplaying the severity of the pandemic and mismanagement of the crisis.

Refuting statements by the HSS about how Bright was entrusted with a newer responsibility as part of the public-private partnership under the National Institutes of Health, Bright stood by his beliefs that he was demoted solely because he argued against propagating hydroxychloroquine and the related chloroquine as the potential cure for COVID-19.