Coronavirus Whistleblower Reprisal? Former BARDA Head Says He's Being Punished For Opposing White House

Dr. Rick Bright, who was ousted as head of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Thursday accused the administration of amping up efforts to punish him for revealing problems with the U.S. coronavirus response.

Bright filed an amended whistleblower complaint with the Office of Special Counsel, which earlier found the White House decision to remove him from leadership of the effort to develop a vaccine reasonable. In the amended complaint, he alleges he has been blocked from even working on coronavirus testing.

Bright, a flu and infectious disease expert, had warned the White House the nation was unprepared for the pandemic but was removed from the post and transferred to a lesser assignment at the National Institutes of Health.

President labeled Bright “a disgruntled guy” and dismissed his concerns.

Before his transfer in April, Bright had received a positive performance review.

Bright apparently raised the administration’s ire for refusing to flood the New York area with hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug Trump promoted as a “game-changer” in the fight against coronavirus. The Food and Drug Administration initially granted an emergency use authorization for the drug but this week revoked that authorization, calling the drug ineffective and dangerous.

Trump has been at odds with medical experts throughout the course of the disease, which is resurging in the United States after months of decreasing infection rates. Trump consistently downplayed the severity of the outbreak and began pushing for states to lift stay-at-home orders before case counts began to recede.

Cases have been surging across the U.S. in recent weeks. The U.S. reported an increase of 36,880 cases Wednesday, the worst day since the pandemic began. By late Thursday afternoon, the U.S. case count had topped 2.4 million, with 122,370 deaths.

Trump has been urging a reduction in the U.S. testing effort, saying it’s responsible for the increasing case count, ignoring that hospitalizations also are up.