Ousted director of vaccine agency warns of ‘darkest winter’ for US

A whistle-blower who says he was removed from his government post for raising concerns about coronavirus preparedness told a congressional hearing on Thursday that the US  could face “the darkest winter” of recent times if it does not improve its response to the pandemic.

Hours after President Donald Trump railed against him on Twitter, Rick Bright testified to a US House of Representatives panel about readiness for the outbreak.

Bright was removed in April as director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (Barda), which is responsible for developing drugs to fight the coronavirus.

“What we do must be done carefully with guidance from the best scientific minds. Our window of opportunity is closing. If we fail to improve our response now, based on science, I fear the pandemic will get worse and be prolonged,” Bright said.

Trump, who has been pushing for the US economy to reopen quickly, dismissed Bright as a “disgruntled employee” on Twitter on Thursday morning before the hearing begun.

He said he did not know Bright, who “with his attitude, should no longer be working for our government!”

Earlier this week, leading US infectious disease expert Anthony Fauci warned a Senate committee that a premature lifting of lockdowns could lead to additional outbreaks of the deadly coronavirus. Trump blocked Fauci from testifying to the Democratic-controlled House.

In a whistle-blower complaint filed with a government watchdog last week, Bright said that he warned about the virus in January and was met with hostility from leaders of the US department of health and human services, which oversees Barda.

Bright, who was reassigned to a new government job in April, said he was ousted from Barda  because he resisted efforts to push the drugs hydroxychloroquine and the related chloroquine as cures for Covid-19, the illness caused by the coronavirus.

Bright said in the statement last month that the US government has promoted the medicines as a “panacea” even though they “clearly lack scientific merit”.

Health department spokesperson Caitlin Oakley has disputed Bright's account, saying in a statement that he was transferred to a job where he was entrusted to spend about $1bn to develop diagnostic testing.

“We are deeply disappointed that he has not shown up to work on behalf of the American people and lead on this critical endeavour,” Oakley said.

The House subcommittee was also hearing on Thursday from Mike Bowen, co-owner of Prestige Ameritech, the largest US surgical mask producer.

Bowen warned in January that the US would run out of medical-grade face masks if it did not ramp up production, according to e-mails included in Bright's complaint. — Reuters