Dr Rick Bright was abruptly dismissed this week as director of the Department of Health and Human Services'Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority,or BARDA,and as deputy assistant secretary for preparedness and response.
Instead,he was given a narrower job at the National Institutes of Health.
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"I believe this transfer was in response to my insistence that the government invest the billions of dollars allocated by Congress to address the COVID-19 pandemic into safe and scientifically vetted solutions and not in drugs,vaccines and other technologies that lack scientific merit,"he said in a statement toThe New York Times.
"I am speaking out because to combat this deadly virus,science — not politics or cronyism — has to lead the way,"he said.
The White House declined to comment.
A spokeswoman for Alex Azar,the health and human services secretary,did not immediately respond to an email seeking comment.