HHS Secretary Alex Azar is illegally retaliating against a whistleblower who spoke out about the failures of the government’s coronavirus response, the whistleblower claimed on Thursday.
Rick Bright, who was ousted in April as chief of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, filed an amended complaint with a federal watchdog alleging that Azar recently has tried to disrupt his new work at the National Institutes of Health.
The federal scientist, who cites a secondhand claim that Azar directed staff not to collaborate with him, details examples of HHS staff who failed to respond to requests in his new role at NIH, where he is focused on ramping up diagnostics for the coronavirus. The complaint centers on Bright’s relationship with Gary Disbrow, his former deputy, who replaced Bright as acting BARDA chief, and comments that Disbrow allegedly made. Continue reading.