Coronavirus whistleblower says 'lives were lost' after Trump administration removed him from meetings where he raised alarms

Whistleblower Dr Rick Bright, who says he was ousted from his position leading a key federal health agency after sounding the alarm of the coronavirus pandemic, claimed he was initially removed from high-level meetings by the Trump administration when raising concerns of supply shortages.

The former director of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda) was called in front of the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittee on Thursday to address the pandemic and his 89-page explosive complaint.

After calling for an increase in production of critical medical supplies, such as personal protective and testing equipment, starting in January, Dr Bright said “those alarms were not responded to with action” and he ”faced hostility and marginalisation from HHS officials”.

“I was told my urging were causing a commotion and I was removed from those meetings,” Dr Bright added.

He claimed more lives were lost because of supply shortages that followed after a lack of preparedness from the Trump administration and government entities.

“Lives were endangered, and I believe lives were lost,” he said. “Not only that, we were forced to procure the supplies from other countries without the right quality standards, so even our doctors and nurses in the hospitals today are wearing N95-marked masks from other countries that are not providing the sufficient protection that a US-standard N95 mask would provide them.”

It was added that the US has known since 2007 that there could be a respirator shortage in the future, according to Dr Bright. Respirators caused problems at the beginning of the pandemic because Covid-19 tends to attack the upper respiratory system, with state governors expressing concerns their hospitals could run out of the necessary medical equipment when hitting the virus’ peak.

Dr Bright’s whistleblower complaint alleged he was later removed from his key leadership position, in part, after he challenged the promotion of the drug hydroxychloroquine, which Donald Trump initially advertised as a “game-changer” drug against Covid-19. He is now a a senior advisor with the National Institutes of Health (NIH).

Republicans during the hearing attempted to challenge Dr Bright and the concerns he raised against hydroxychloroquine, with members mentioning instances where patients experienced benefits from taking the drug. But Dr Bright reiterated that he initially challenged the use of the drug because of a lack of scientific support showing the “clinical benefit” versus the potential deadly side effects for its use in Covid-19 patients.

“There were some attempts to bypass that rigorous vetting process that caused me great concern,” he said. ”Most of the data coming out ... hasn’t shown a clinical benefit to those patients. In the context of a randomised study, we have not seen a clinical benefit.”

Multiple studies released in recent weeks have shown the drug was mostly ineffective against Covid-19 symptoms. Hydroxychloroquine, an anti-malaria drug used for years, has also raised concerns it could increase heart problems in patients.

“I believe part of the removal process for me was initiated because of a pushback that I gave when they asked me to put in place an expanded access protocol that would make chloroquine more freely available to Americans that were not under the close supervision of a physician and may not even be confirmed to be infected with the coronavirus,” Dr Bright said.

“When I spoke with the government and shared my concerns for the American public, that, I believe, was the straw that broke the camel’s back and escalated my removal,” he added.

Dr Bright said he did push for randomised studies for hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine to discover if there was benefits to them against Covid-19, but he wanted the drugs to first face controlled trials by clinicians before being advertised to the American public.

The future of a vaccine against the coronavirus was also mentioned during the hearing, and members of the subcommittee asked if Dr Bright believed the US could create a suitable option for use by the end of the year. Dr Bright said that while he hoped a vaccine could be developed in 12 to 18 months, he thought it was an “aggressive schedule”.

“And I think it will take longer,” he said.

His reasoning relied on how vaccines developed on an expedited timeline would require everything to go perfectly. “We’ve never seen anything go perfectly,” he added.

He also urged that the US Department of Health and Human Services develop a national testing strategy – rather than leave testing up to the states – as well as a plan for distributing a vaccine, when it’s available.

“That has to be in a coordinated way ... [testing] is not something we do once and we’re done,” he said. Testing is “not just that we need one test for every person in America” but also the right types of tests, people who know how to administer them, and infrastructure for widespread contact tracing.

Leaving the White House alongside the president, HHS Secretary Alex Azar dismissed Dr Bright’s claims, saying that “his allegations do not hold water”.

“This is like someone who was in choir is trying to say he was a soloist back then,” Mr Azar said.

The president’s Republican allies in congress also tried to undermine Dr Bright’s reports, questioning his use of paid leave following his dismissal from Barda, while the president himself told reporters that he’s never heard of the man charged with vaccine development in his own administration.

When leaving the White House on Thursday during the hearing, the president slammed Dr Bright and his decision to file a whistleblower complaint.

“To me he is nothing more than a really unhappy, disgruntled person,” Mr Trump said.

Dr Bright said he thought the US could address the pandemic if the country had “proper leadership ... with science leading the way”.

“Time is running out because the virus is spreading everywhere,” he said, after warning of the “darkest winter in modern history” to come during his opening testimony.

“A Covid-19 resurgence this fall could be devastating for our healthcare systems,” he added.

Health officials have raised concerns about how the coronavirus would inundate hospitals in the fall because a future resurgence could happen during the height of flu season. Dr Bright echoed those concerns.

His opening testimony at the start of the hearing warned that the “window is closing” on the US to heighten its response to the pandemic.

“Our window of opportunity is closing,” he said. “If we fail to develop a national coordinated response, based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities .... ​Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be darkest winter in modern history.”