Dr. Rick Bright's testimony was first obtained by CNN and has since been made public.
Dr. Bright served as the director of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) from November 2016 until April of this year. He had been with the agency since 2010.
According to the former BARDA head:
"On April 21, 2020, I was removed from my positions as the Director of BARDA and HHS (Health and Human Services) Deputy Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response by HHS leadership and involuntarily transferred to a more limited and less impactful position at the National Institutes of Health."
"I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest funding allocated to BARDA by Congress to address the pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions, and not in drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit."
"While my intention in testifying today is to be forward looking, I spoke out then and I am testifying today because science—not politics or cronyism—must lead the way to combat this deadly virus."
Regarding his dire prediction, Bright will state:
"I continue to believe that we must act urgently to effectively combat this deadly disease. Our window of opportunity is closing."
"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."
The public health expert will offer another warning to the subcommittee members.
His written testimony states:
"Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be darkest winter in modern history."
Bright's whistleblower complaint filed last week alleged his removal was a direct result of his opposition to pushing for the broad use of President Donald Trump's recommended pandemic treatment.
He plans to reiterate it in his testimony Thursday, stating:
"[I] resisted efforts to promote and enable broad access to an unproven drug, chloroquine, to the American people without transparent information on the potential health risks."
People were not surprised by Bright's claims or his warnings.
Several cited Dr. Bright when they took their Republican legislators and members of the Trump administration to task over the federal pandemic response.
Dr. Bright is slated to testify on Thursday. You can read his full written testimony here.
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