Bright’s firing the real national disgrace

RE: Removal of Dr. Rick Bright as head of vaccine development at NIH.

President Trump likes to use the term “national disgrace” quite a lot, usually to describe the situation where people associated with him commit criminal activities and are held accountable — often sent to prison. He claims that what has been done to those people, bringing them to justice, is a “national disgrace.” Usually I feel his attempt to protect them with his rhetoric is the real “national disgrace.”

There is perhaps no greater “national disgrace” right now than the president’s removal of Dr. Rick Bright as head of vaccine development at NIH, after he pressed for rigorous vetting of hydroxychloroquine, the anti-malaria drug embraced by Trump and his cronies at Fox News as a promising coronavirus treatment despite a lack of empirical science behind it. It is also notable that the president has a financial interest in a company that makes that drug, a fact that may be contributing to his praising and promoting of the drug’s possibilities.

Bright has rightly accused the administration of putting “politics and cronyism ahead of science.”

Because Bright was abruptly dismissed as the director of the department seeking a vaccine against the coronavirus, all Americans may now have to wait longer for a vaccine to be developed and, as a result, more people may have to suffer and needlessly die due to Trump’s reckless, indefensible actions. I cannot think of a greater national disgrace at a time when we are desperately seeking a vaccine to put an end to this terrible pandemic. Bright was seen as a shining star, as the leader of this endeavor. Now the president has most certainly contributed to a slowing of this process.

I sincerely hope Trump reverses course, comes to his senses and returns Bright to his previous post. I’d also like to see Trump stop playing medical doctor at his daily press briefings/ campaign rallies. He should let the real doctors and scientists speak for themselves. We don’t need a hotel/golf course owner telling us what drug we should be taking.