Rick Bright Joins President-Elect Biden’s COVID-19 Task Force

Rick Bright, who was leading the vaccine effort at NIH’s Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) but was pushed aside by the Trump administration, has joined President-Elect Joe Biden’s Transition COVID-19 Advisory Board.

The Biden transition team made the announcement yesterday along with the appointment of advisory board co-chairs David Kessler, Vivek Murthy and Marcella Nunez-Smith, as well as nine other board members. Kessler served as FDA commissioner from 1990 to 1997 under President George H.W. Bush and President Bill Clinton. Murphy was U.S. Surgeon General from 2014-2017 under President Barack Obama. Nunez-Smith is associate dean for health equity research at the Yale School of Medicine.

Bright filed a whistleblower complaint in May, alleging that he was terminated from his leadership role at the vaccine development office and reassigned to a COVID-19 diagnostics initiative at the NIH because he was outspoken in his criticism of the administration’s pandemic response. (DID, May 6).

Testifying May 14 before the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Health, Bright warned, “Without better planning, 2020 could be the darkest winter in modern history.” He resigned from NIH last month (DID, Oct. 7). 

President-Elect Biden said the COVID-19 advisory board will help shape his approach to managing the surge in reported infections and to “ensuring vaccines are safe, effective and distributed efficiently, equitably and free, and protecting at-risk populations.” — Martin Berman-Gorvine