Head of US’ pandemic vaccine group says he was demoted in retaliation

Enlarge / Secretary of Health and Human Services Alex Azar (right), shown here with Dr. Anthony Fauci and President Trump, has reportedly clashed with a key director in his agency. (credit: Drew Angerer / Getty Images)

Today, the former head of the agency responsible for rapid development of pandemic responses such as therapies and vaccines announced he would file a whistleblower complaint with the Department of Health and Human Services (HHS). Rick Bright, who had led the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority until this week, says he was transferred to a different position because he insisted on funding scientifically valid vaccine and therapy research over the objections of political appointees at HHS.

The Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) has been a relatively obscure agency. It has a broad remit: to enable a rapid response to emerging biomedical threats. Many of its listed threats are focused on terrorism issues, like biological, chemical, and radioactive attacks. But it also handles the related issue of pandemics and emerging diseases, which makes it very relevant at the moment.

The responses BARDA is meant to foster include diagnostics, therapies, and vaccines, and it provides both funding to advance their development as well as technical consulting to help companies overcome bottlenecks in the development process. As such, it has played a key role in determining the government's response to the SARS-CoV-2 pandemic, and it has seen its budget tripled in a recent coronavirus response bill.

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