Rick Bright details mismanaged pandemic response, warns of drugs, vaccine supply problems down the road

In wide-ranging congressional testimony, the ousted head of an agency at the center of the federal government’s Covid-19 vaccine and treatment response criticized the Trump administration for a slow-footed federal response that could resound throughout the course of the pandemic.

“I believe we could have done better,” Rick Bright, former chief of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), told a House subcommittee. “We don’t have the right leadership for this response and we don’t have the right plan for this response.”