BARDA chief turned whistleblower Rick Bright resigns from government with one last broadside against the Trump administration

Rick Bright, the federal vaccines official turned whistleblower, resigned from the government yesterday, firing a final charge of political meddling at the Trump Administration as he departed.

Bright had led BARDA for 4 years before being suddenly removed from the post in April, just as the once little-known agency was gearing up for what would ultimately be a more than $10 billion effort to accelerate vaccines and therapeutics for one of the worst pandemics in modern history. In subsequent statements, whistleblower complaints, and congressional testimony, he alleged that he was ousted for resisting a plan to mass distribute hydroxychloroquine — a Trump-touted drug that has since repeatedly proven ineffective — to hard-hit areas and described an extended history of political interference in agency decision-making.