Whistleblower blasts Trump team’s Covid-19 response
A former Trump administration official has alleged he was removed from his post after resisting efforts to ‘‘flood’’ major US cities with potentially dangerous coronavirus drugs and refusing to award lucrative government contracts based on ‘‘political connections and cronyism’’.
The allegations are contained in an 89-page whistleblower complaint filed by Rick Bright, the former head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA).
Bright says he tried to raise the alarm about Covid-19 in January – including the need for the US to stockpile surgical masks and ventilators – but encountered resistance from senior officials who instead downplayed its threat.
He said these officials included Alex Azar, the head of the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS).
‘‘It was obvious that Dr Bright’s persistent demands for urgent action to respond to the pandemic had caused a ‘s--t storm’ and a ‘commotion’ and were unwelcome in the office of the HHS Secretary,’’ his complaint reads.
‘‘As a result, HHS leadership excluded Dr Bright and BARDA from these recurring meetings and from the critical discussions about addressing the Covid-19 pandemic.’’
He says that ‘‘even as HHS leadership began to acknowledge the imminent shortages in critical medical supplies, they failed to recognise the magnitude of the problem, and they failed to take the necessary urgent action’’.
His complaint states that senior officials ‘‘levelled baseless criticisms against him for his proactive efforts to invest early in vaccine development as well as in critical supplies such as masks, respirators, and swabs, which were in short supply and would be necessary to combat Covid-19’’.
‘‘Thereafter, HHS political leadership retaliated against Dr Bright for his objections and resistance to funding potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections and by the Administration itself,’’ his complaint states.
Bright was re-assigned in April from his post to a narrower position at the National Institutes of Health.
He is pushing to be re-instated to his old position and for a full investigation.
His complaint states: ‘‘HHS leadership pressured Dr Bright and BARDA to ignore expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism’’.
Specifically, Bright says he opposed the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as ‘‘lacking scientific merit’’ even though the Trump administration ‘‘promoted it as a panacea and demanded that New York and New Jersey be ‘flooded’ with these drugs, which were imported from factories in Pakistan and India’’.
At his White House briefings Donald Trump regularly hyped the potential of hydroxychloroquine, saying it could be a ‘‘game changer’’ in the battle against Covid-19.
A study by the Department of Veterans Affairs later found that patients given the drug were no less likely to need mechanical ventilation and had higher deaths rates than those who did not take it.
Bright says he believes his decision to speak to a reporter about the potential dangers of hydroxychloroquine contributed to his removal.
‘‘Dr Bright hoped that by shining a light on HHS’s reckless and dangerous push to make these drug available, American lives would be saved,’’ his complaint states. – Nine