SUBSCRIBE TO OUR FREE NEWSLETTER
Daily news & progressive opinion—funded by the people, not the corporations—delivered straight to your inbox.
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
5
#000000
#FFFFFF
President Donald Trump speaks during the daily briefing of the coronavirus task force at the White House on April 22, 2020 in Washington, D.C. (Photo: Drew Angerer/Getty Images)
'Cronyism Ahead of Science': Federal Doctor Says He Was Fired for Resisting Trump Promotion of Untested Covid-19 Treatments
Dr. Rick Bright said he "resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public."
Apr 23, 2020
A high-ranking federal scientist and one of the leading vaccine experts in the U.S. said in a withering statement on Wednesday that he was fired from his post as director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority because he questioned and resisted President Donald Trump's promotion of untested Covid-19 treatments, particularly hydroxychloroquine.
Dr. Rick Bright, who was moved to a post at the National Institutes of Health, said he believes the "transfer 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."
"A global pandemic is not the time to shuffle personnel, or contradict and remove experts for wanting to do their job well. These reports are incredibly disturbing and I will be pushing for answers."
--Sen. Patty Murray
"I also resisted efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections," Bright added. "Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit."
Bright, who was playing a leading role in the effort to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, said he decided to speak out because the Trump administration has put "politics and cronyism ahead of science" in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, despite warnings from public health experts, Trump touted hydroxychloroquine as a "game-changer"--though the president has toned down his promotion of the anti-malaria drug in recent days after a study found it offered no benefit to Covid-19 patients.
Trump claimed during a press briefing Wednesday evening that he has "never heard of" Bright, who said in his statement that he "resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public."
"These drugs," said Bright, "have potentially serious risks associated with them, including increased mortality observed in some recent studies in patients with Covid-19."
In a statement late Wednesday following news of Bright's removal, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said "we need to be listening to experts and science, not pushing them aside."
"A global pandemic is not the time to shuffle personnel, or contradict and remove experts for wanting to do their job well," Murray said. "These reports are incredibly disturbing and I will be pushing for answers."
An Urgent Message From Our Co-Founder
Dear Common Dreams reader, It’s been nearly 30 years since I co-founded Common Dreams with my late wife, Lina Newhouser. We had the radical notion that journalism should serve the public good, not corporate profits. It was clear to us from the outset what it would take to build such a project. No paid advertisements. No corporate sponsors. No millionaire publisher telling us what to think or do. Many people said we wouldn't last a year, but we proved those doubters wrong. Together with a tremendous team of journalists and dedicated staff, we built an independent media outlet free from the constraints of profits and corporate control. Our mission has always been simple: To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. Building Common Dreams was not easy. Our survival was never guaranteed. When you take on the most powerful forces—Wall Street greed, fossil fuel industry destruction, Big Tech lobbyists, and uber-rich oligarchs who have spent billions upon billions rigging the economy and democracy in their favor—the only bulwark you have is supporters who believe in your work. But here’s the urgent message from me today. It's never been this bad out there. And it's never been this hard to keep us going. At the very moment Common Dreams is most needed, the threats we face are intensifying. We need your support now more than ever. We don't accept corporate advertising and never will. We don't have a paywall because we don't think people should be blocked from critical news based on their ability to pay. Everything we do is funded by the donations of readers like you. When everyone does the little they can afford, we are strong. But if that support retreats or dries up, so do we. Will you donate now to make sure Common Dreams not only survives but thrives? —Craig Brown, Co-founder |
Our work is licensed under Creative Commons (CC BY-NC-ND 3.0). Feel free to republish and share widely.
A high-ranking federal scientist and one of the leading vaccine experts in the U.S. said in a withering statement on Wednesday that he was fired from his post as director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority because he questioned and resisted President Donald Trump's promotion of untested Covid-19 treatments, particularly hydroxychloroquine.
Dr. Rick Bright, who was moved to a post at the National Institutes of Health, said he believes the "transfer 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."
"A global pandemic is not the time to shuffle personnel, or contradict and remove experts for wanting to do their job well. These reports are incredibly disturbing and I will be pushing for answers."
--Sen. Patty Murray
"I also resisted efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections," Bright added. "Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit."
Bright, who was playing a leading role in the effort to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, said he decided to speak out because the Trump administration has put "politics and cronyism ahead of science" in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, despite warnings from public health experts, Trump touted hydroxychloroquine as a "game-changer"--though the president has toned down his promotion of the anti-malaria drug in recent days after a study found it offered no benefit to Covid-19 patients.
Trump claimed during a press briefing Wednesday evening that he has "never heard of" Bright, who said in his statement that he "resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public."
"These drugs," said Bright, "have potentially serious risks associated with them, including increased mortality observed in some recent studies in patients with Covid-19."
In a statement late Wednesday following news of Bright's removal, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said "we need to be listening to experts and science, not pushing them aside."
"A global pandemic is not the time to shuffle personnel, or contradict and remove experts for wanting to do their job well," Murray said. "These reports are incredibly disturbing and I will be pushing for answers."
A high-ranking federal scientist and one of the leading vaccine experts in the U.S. said in a withering statement on Wednesday that he was fired from his post as director of the Department of Health and Human Services' Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority because he questioned and resisted President Donald Trump's promotion of untested Covid-19 treatments, particularly hydroxychloroquine.
Dr. Rick Bright, who was moved to a post at the National Institutes of Health, said he believes the "transfer 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."
"A global pandemic is not the time to shuffle personnel, or contradict and remove experts for wanting to do their job well. These reports are incredibly disturbing and I will be pushing for answers."
--Sen. Patty Murray
"I also resisted efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections," Bright added. "Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit."
Bright, who was playing a leading role in the effort to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus, said he decided to speak out because the Trump administration has put "politics and cronyism ahead of science" in its response to the Covid-19 pandemic.
Earlier this month, despite warnings from public health experts, Trump touted hydroxychloroquine as a "game-changer"--though the president has toned down his promotion of the anti-malaria drug in recent days after a study found it offered no benefit to Covid-19 patients.
Trump claimed during a press briefing Wednesday evening that he has "never heard of" Bright, who said in his statement that he "resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public."
"These drugs," said Bright, "have potentially serious risks associated with them, including increased mortality observed in some recent studies in patients with Covid-19."
In a statement late Wednesday following news of Bright's removal, Sen. Patty Murray (D-Wash.) said "we need to be listening to experts and science, not pushing them aside."
"A global pandemic is not the time to shuffle personnel, or contradict and remove experts for wanting to do their job well," Murray said. "These reports are incredibly disturbing and I will be pushing for answers."
We've had enough. The 1% own and operate the corporate media. They are doing everything they can to defend the status quo, squash dissent and protect the wealthy and the powerful. The Common Dreams media model is different. We cover the news that matters to the 99%. Our mission? To inform. To inspire. To ignite change for the common good. How? Nonprofit. Independent. Reader-supported. Free to read. Free to republish. Free to share. With no advertising. No paywalls. No selling of your data. Thousands of small donations fund our newsroom and allow us to continue publishing. Can you chip in? We can't do it without you. Thank you.