Rick Bright
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The man running the vaccine funding agency was removed, and said out loud why.
Who they are
Rick Bright, director of BARDA until his demotion in April 2020[1].
What they do
The engine treats his complaint as the internal record of how the contracting worked.
How it works
He filed a whistleblower complaint alleging mismanagement and abuse of authority, saying he was pushed out for resisting pressure to buy and promote unapproved chloroquine treatments and for opposing preferential contracting towards Emergent BioSolutions.
Why it matters
The Office of Special Counsel found a substantial likelihood of wrongdoing and recommended he be reinstated — which moves this from an accusation to a partly substantiated one.
The engine's record — word for word
Dr. Rick Bright served as the Director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) until his demotion in April 2020 by ASPR Robert Kadlec.[1] Bright subsequently filed a high-profile whistleblower complaint with the U.S. Office of Special Counsel, alleging widespread gross mismanagement and abuse of authority by Kadlec and HHS leadership.[2] Specifically, Bright claimed he was retaliated against for resisting pressure to acquire and promote unapproved chloroquine-based treatments and for opposing Kadlec's preferential contracting practices favoring crony firms, notably Emergent BioSolutions.[3] Bright alleged that hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars were inappropriately funneled to Emergent, a firm where Kadlec had previously served as a well-compensated consultant.[4] Following his complaint, the Office of Special Counsel found a "substantial likelihood of wrongdoing" and recommended Bright's reinstatement as BARDA chief, substantiating the claim that his removal was likely retaliatory in nature.[5]
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