Donald Trump has repeatedly pushed hydroxychloroquine to treat the novel coronavirus, but then suddenly, the president stopped touting the drug — likely because a recent study showed it had a higher death rate compared to those who did not take the medication.
Adding to the chaos, the director of the agency responsible for leading the charge on the production and purchase of vaccines in the Trump administration said on Wednesday that he was removed from his post after he pressed for a rigorous vetting of a coronavirus treatment that Trump was embracing: Hydroxychloroquine.
This is what happens when you give the keys to the White House to a man who thinks he knows more than the experts. Also, Donald Trump doesn’t like to be proven wrong.
In the statement, Dr. Bright said, according to the New York Times: “My professional background has prepared me for a moment like this — to confront and defeat a deadly virus that threatens Americans and people around the globe. To this point, I have led the government’s efforts to invest in the best science available to combat the COVID-19 pandemic.”
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“Unfortunately, this resulted in clashes with H.H.S. political leadership, including criticism for my proactive efforts to invest early into vaccines and supplies critical to saving American lives,” he continued. “I also resisted efforts to fund potentially dangerous drugs promoted by those with political connections.”
“Specifically, and contrary to misguided directives, I limited the broad use of chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which clearly lack scientific merit,” he said.
“While I am prepared to look at all options and to think ‘outside the box’ for effective treatments, I rightly resisted efforts to provide an unproven drug on demand to the American public,” Dr. Bright said. “I insisted that these drugs be provided only to hospitalized patients with confirmed COVID-19 while under the supervision of a physician.”
“These drugs have potentially serious risks associated with them, including increased mortality observed in some recent studies in patients with COVID-19,” the statement continued. “Sidelining me in the middle of this pandemic and placing politics and cronyism ahead of science puts lives at risk and stunts national efforts to safely and effectively address this urgent public health crisis.”
“I will request that the inspector general of the Department of Health and Human Services investigate the manner in which this administration has politicized the work of BARDA and has pressured me and other conscientious scientists to fund companies with political connections and efforts that lack scientific merit,” he said. “Rushing blindly towards unproven drugs can be disastrous and result in countless more deaths. Science, in service to the health and safety of the American people, must always trump politics.”
Dr. Bright has hired lawyers. The doctor was trying to stop the administration from using a deadly drug, and that, in this White House, gets you fired.
Featured image via Political Tribune gallery
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