The doctor heading the federal office tasked with battling the COVID-19 pandemic says he was forced out over opposing broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, which President Donald Trump has promoted as cure for the novel coronavirus.
Rick Bright said in statement Wednesday that he was removed as the director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) after he "resisted efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.”
“I believe this 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,” he said.
‘No panacea’
Bright asserted that there was no “scientific merit” in the drugs, promoted by the president as a “panacea.”
"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 said.
According to a nationwide study, financed by the National Institutes of Health and the University of Virginia, anti-Malria drugs have shown no benefit and even caused more deaths.
Heart rhythm problems have also been reported in one-quarter of people given the higher of two doses being tested in Brazil.
‘Trump ditching hotspots’
Trump is being criticized for his administration’s poor response to the pandemic, in part as hospitals on the front lines of the COVID-19 pandemic will receive $10 billion from the CARES Act.
"The Trump Administration’s decision to allocate only one-tenth of the funding for hot spot areas is outrageous," New York Democrat Representative Nita Lowey said, adding that it was a "blatant disregard for the massive costs undertaken by hospitals and health providers in the nation’s hardest-hit regions."
US Department of Health and Human Services Secretary Alex Azar has suggested that this newest wave of funding will be more targeted.
"It will be a significant infusion of money for high impact areas," Azar said during a call with reporters.
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