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Ousted director of the United States’ the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) on Tuesday had filed a whistleblower complaint against the Trump administration alleging that the administration had ignored his early warnings about the coronavirus outbreak.
Dr Rick Bright who had previously led BARDA in developing a Covid-19 vaccine in his whistleblower complaint had said that the administration had failed to prepare for an outbreak and had then sought a quick fix by rushing unproven drugs.
According to the complaints corners regarding shortages of critical supplies, including masks, were ignored by his superiors in the administration, CNN reported.
Bright had further said that there was an overall lack of an action at the top of the administration despite the virus spreading outside of China.
Bright had led BARDA since 2016. He was then reassigned last month to a lower position at the National Institutes of Health.
According to a Reuters report, HHS spokeswoman Caitlin Oakley had said that he was transferred to a job where he was entrusted around $1 billion for developing diagnostic testing.
Bright’s lawyers, however, had argued that his removal had violated a federal law protecting government whistleblowers, the report said.
Bright after his removal from the post back in April had said in a statement: "I was removed from my positions as the Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) and HHS Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response by the Administration and involuntarily transferred to a more limited and less impactful position at the National Institutes of Health. I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit.”
Bright will testify before a U.S. House of Representatives panel a Capitol hill on May 14, his spokeswoman had tweeted on Tuesday.
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