Transcript
Dr. Rick Bright, the doctor in charge of the federal government’s search for a coronavirus vaccine says he was forced out of his job for questioning the use of hydroxychloroquine.
That’s the drug President Trump has been hyping for weeks.
Bright used to lead BARDA, a biomedical research subdivision of the Department of Health and Human Services.
But on Tuesday he was reassigned to a smaller position at the National Institutes of Health.
In a statement, Bright says the reason “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 also claimed his opposition to the broad use of hydroxychloroquine contributed to his demotion.
The drug is typically used to treat malaria, lupus and rheumatoid arthritis but it has been heavily promoted by Trump as a possible coronavirus treatment despite little evidence that it helps at all.
Bright claims he is a victim of political retaliation and he is filing a whistleblower complaint with the Health and Human Services inspector over his demotion.
When reporters asked Trump about Bright, Trump insisted he doesn’t know who he is.
Posted – 4.24.20