WASHINGTON (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 06th May, 2020) Rick Bright, the microbiologist who was dismissed as director of the US Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) division responsible for creating new vaccines after warning against using hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine hydrocodone to treat the novel coronavirus (COVID-19), wants to be reinstated while the US Office of Special Council (OSC) investigates his whistleblower complaint, according to his complaint.
Bright was fired at a time when President Donald Trump was publicly touting the two drugs as potential game changers in the US efforts to contain the novel coronavirus.
"HHS political leadership retaliated against Dr. Bright for his objections and resistance to funding potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections and by the [Trump] administration itself," Bright's whistleblower complaint stated on Tuesday.
The complaint said Bright opposed the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine as lacking scientific merit, even though the administration promoted it and demanded that the states of New York and New Jersey be "flooded" with these drugs.
The food and Drug Administration has sent a warning to hospitals that the drugs may produce side effects.
However, leading epidemiologists throughout the world, like Dr. Didier Raoult in France, have vouched that the medications are effective in treating COVID-19 patients, have been used for decades, do not produce dangerous side effects and are inexpensive. The use of these drugs - particularly hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin and zinc - may prevent the production of expensive vaccines and drugs.
The complaint was sent to the US Office of Special Counsel, which is responsible for investigating whistleblower submissions. A copy of the complaint was posted on line Tuesday.
Bright, the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, a unit within HHS, was removed April 20 and reassigned to an obscure position in the National Institutes of Health.
Beginning in early January, Bright claims in the complaint, that he recommended stockpiling N95 respirator face masks, ventilators and testing supplies for COVID-19, and urged rapid development of vaccines and anti-viral drugs.
The disease has since infected 1.2 million Americans resulting in nearly 71,000 deaths, according to data compiled by Johns Hopkins University.
