U.S. ‘in deep s--t’
Axed whistleblower: Not ready to deal with virus
The federal government’s ousted vaccine czar told lawmakers on Thursday that the country is “in deep s—t” and severely unprepared for more coronavirus fallout because top Trump administration officials ignored his early warnings and then retaliated against him for sounding the alarm.
Dr. Richard Bright, who filed a whistleblower complaint after being abruptly removed last month from his coronavirus vaccine development post, said the severity of the problem first dawned on him in late January, when he received an email from a medical supply company executive warning him that mask stockpiles were already getting decimated.
“He said, ‘We’re in deep s—t. The world is. And we need to act,’” Bright said as part of testimony before the House Energy and Commerce Committee.
“And I pushed that forward to the highest levels I could in HHS and got no response.
From that moment, I knew that we were going to have a crisis for our healthcare workers because we were not taking action. We were already behind the ball.”
At that point, Bright said he had already advised Health and Human Services Department brass that the administration needed to nip the virus in the bud and immediately start developing a national testing strategy and a plan for distributing an eventual vaccine.
He also said he had advocated for an early campaign to educate the public about the need for social distancing and mask wearing.
But his advice fell on deaf ears, Bright said.
“I was told that my urgings were causing a commotion,” Bright said.
Bright’s whistleblower complaint alleges he was removed as the head of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority because his superiors didn’t take kindly to his repeated warnings about the dangers of the virus. A federal watchdog agency has concluded that Bright’s allegations are “reasonable” and substantiated.
Bright testified as the U.S. coronavirus death toll climbed above 85,000.
Bright said he fears that the country will experience another round of “unprecedented” death during an expected second wave of coronavirus this fall unless the administration learns from its early mistakes and immediately begins developing a national testing and vaccine strategy.
“The window is closing to address this pandemic because we still do not have a standard, centralized, coordinated plan to take this nation through this response,” Bright said.
He added, “Time is running out.”
President Trump has refused calls to develop a centralized testing plan.
Instead, he has left the issue up to states and declared that the U.S. has already “prevailed” on testing — an assessment sharply disputed by medical experts, including Dr. Anthony Fauci, Trump’s own coronavirus task force adviser.
Bright’s damning testimony was rebuked by Trump and Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar.
Azar claimed Bright was exaggerating and insisted no one could’ve seen the virus coming.
“This is like somebody who was in a choir trying to say he was a soloist back then,” Azar told reporters at the White House. “Dr. Bright was part of a team and simply saying what everybody at the White House and HHS was saying. Not one bit of difference … His allegations do not hold water.”
Trump chimed in by belittling Bright “as an angry, disgruntled employee.”
Back in the hearing room, Trump’s GOP allies took aim at Bright for still collecting his $285,000 salary while first on sick leave and now on vacation while trying to straighten out his work situation in light of being demoted to a position at the National Institutes of Health.