Ousted HHS official files a whistleblower complaint on coronavirus response

Toya Sarno Jordan / Bloomberg via Getty Images, File

 THE CUT 

Rick Bright, a vaccine expert, who said he was ousted from his job after raising concerns about the hydroxychloroquine drug that President Donald Trump promoted, filed a whistleblower complaint Tuesday alleging the Department of Health and Human Services failed to take early action to stop the  threat of the coronavirus.

In the complaint, Bright claims that the HHS had a chaotic response to the virus.

The chaos, a large part by "pressure from HHS leadership to ignore scientific merit and expert recommendations and instead to award lucrative contracts based on political connections and cronyism," the complaint says.

Bright also said he “repeatedly clashed with Dr. Kadlec and other HHS leaders about the outsized role played by John Clerici, an industry consultant to pharmaceutical companies with a longstanding connection to Dr. Kadlec, in the award of government contracts.”

“Once the COVID-19 pandemic hit, however, Dr. Bright became even more alarmed about the pressure that Dr. Kadlec and other government officials were exerting on BARDA to invest in drugs, vaccines, and other technologies without proper scientific vetting or that lacked scientific merit," the complaint shares.

The complaint also shows the HHS slow to react to the severity of the emerging pandemic.

"Unlike Secretary Azar, Dr. Bright and other public health officials were fully aware of the emerging threat of COVID-19 by early January 2020," the complaint says. While he and his staff pushed for genetic sequencing and other information about the virus, Bright says he initially encountered indifference which then developed into hostility from HHS leadership, including Secretary Azar, as Dr. Bright and his staff raised concerns about the virus and the urgent need to act.”