Scientist heading vaccine development demoted when he refused to push ineffective and dangerous Malaria drug...
A high-ranking federal scientist focused on vaccine development says he was removed from his post because of his "insistence" that the government spend funds on "safe and scientifically vetted solutions" to address the coronavirus crisis and not on "drugs, vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit."
In a statement Wednesday that was released by his attorneys, Richard Bright specifically cited his pushback against unproven potential treatments that President Trump has repeatedly advocated for during White House briefings and on Twitter.
Bright was director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority and a deputy assistant secretary with the Department of Health and Human Services until, he says, he was removed on Tuesday. Bright said he has been transferred to "a more limited and less impactful position" at the National Institutes of Health.
Asked about the removal during Wednesday evening's coronavirus briefing, Trump said he'd never heard of Bright. "Maybe he was [removed after raising concerns], maybe he wasn't," Trump said. "You'd have to hear the other side."