**Dr. Bright is the former director of the office leading efforts to find a vaccine for coronavirus**

**The office investigating Dr. Bright’s whistleblower complaint has recommended he be reinstated after finding reason to believe that he was removed out of retaliation**

Today, Congresswoman Annie Kuster questioned Dr. Richard Bright, the former federal vaccine chief who filed a whistleblower complaint last week after being removed from his position as Director of the Biomedical Advance Research and Development Authority (BARDA). In a hearing in the House Energy and Commerce Health Subcommittee, Rep. Kuster asked Dr. Bright about his role as director of BARDA; America’s preparedness for the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic including the availability of supplies for a future COVID-19 vaccine; and readiness for reopening the country. Rep. Kuster recently introduced her “Roadmap to Recovery” outlining policies that should be in place in order to safely and responsibly reopen our economy.

In his whistleblower complaint, Dr. Bright alleges that his early warnings about COVID-19 were ignored and that his reluctance to make "potentially harmful drugs" available for treating coronavirus eventually led to his firing. 

Watch Rep. Kuster question Dr. Bright here or read below:

[KUSTER] Thank you for being with us today. I want to thank you for your courage for helping us to do our job to protect the American people. I want to start today by restating what I said at a hearing on February 26th with Secretary Azar right here, right at that table. 

The key to a public health crisis is trust and credibility. On that day, I urged Secretary Azar to provide clear, credible updates from this administration to the American public. However, your whistleblower complaint and testimony today unveil unheeded warnings about personal protective equipment, testing supplies, and vaccine supplies.

Over the past several months I have held countless conversations with doctors and nurses and community health centers and our Republican governor and every other person in New Hampshire trying to get access to personal protective equipment to protect our front line workers - to protect our grocery clerks. We have been trying to get testing supplies and we were told because we were not a hot spot, we were on our own. We literally had to turn to entrepreneurs, thank god they exist and thank you to them for flying to China and bringing us the equipment we need that should and could have distributed had we planned ahead.

These conversations have informed my Roadmap to Recovery on how to safely reopen our economy and key to those efforts is adequate testing and contact tracing and supported isolation and vaccine development - your specialty. I want to focus on your role as director of BARDA and vaccine development and distribution.

On page 28 and 29 of your addendum of your complaint, BARDA estimated between 650 million and 850 million of needles and syringes for a vaccine to be needed for everyone to be safe. Your team estimates it could take up to two years to manufacture these vaccine delivery supplies. To your knowledge, Dr. Bright, at this time has the administration placed any orders to prepare for how a vaccine will be delivered when one becomes available to every American?

[DR. BRIGHT] I learned that they placed the first order of needles and syringes on May 1st and another order was placed today. 

[KUSTER] And were the amounts adequate?

[DR. BRIGHT] I believe they asked for 320 million needles and syringes. 

[KUSTER] And could you please describe the situation if every American does not have access to a vaccine due to a supply shortage?

[DR. BRIGHT] That situation would be catastrophic honestly. The decisions have not been made yet - who to vaccinate first and how to identify those individuals and how to stretch those limits of supplies appropriately. And it is important to remember that it is not just to the United States. When I said it will take two or two and a half years, that's assuming that there would not be global competition for those limited supplies. Those are not made in the United States, some of them. 

[KUSTER] Does a lack of preparation in vaccines and supplies make use more vulnerable to future spikes in COVID-19?

[DR. BRIGHT] Absolutely. 

[KUSTER] And do we have supplies to distribute both the flu vaccine next winter as well as the coronavirus vaccine? 

[DR. BRIGHT] It is going to be extremely challenging. 

[KUSTER] Do we know yet of the interactions of the full-fledged flu season in combination of COVID-19?

[DR. BRIGHT] We have not seen that yet. Luckily, flu was winding down this spring when COVID-19 was emerging. 

[KUSTER] And without adequate supplies to vaccinate all Americans for COVID-19, does this slow down the goal of fully reopening our economy and getting back to the normal that every American wants?

[DR. BRIGHT] It certainly brings to caution and significant consideration that must be taken into consideration before reopening. We need to make sure that not only guidelines are reopening are clear to each individual and each individual follows those guidelines otherwise, it puts us at risk. 

[KUSTER] Can I ask you a question? I know you are not political and we are trying not to be political. In fact, I am proud of our state that our delegation and our governors are working so well together. But, Dr. Bright, does this virus give a damn whether a patient is Republican or Democrat?

[DR. BRIGHT] No, it does not. this virus just wants to infect people and a lot of people get really sick and die. 

[KUSTER] Thank you for your knowledge, your humility, and your service to our country. I yield back.

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