Covid-19: American scientist fired for political reasons

Text by: RFI Follow

Rick Bright, director of a US government agency responsible for developing treatments and vaccines for the new coronavirus, said it was his opposition to widespread use of chloroquine that would have cost him his job. Chloroquine, a drug touted by Donald Trump but whose effectiveness is not proven, according to several scientific studies.

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Rick Bright headed the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, an agency at the forefront of the fight against Covid-19. This week, he was transferred to a position below the National Institutes of Health. The reasons are, he said, political as he explained in a press release published in the American press.

Rick Bright notably opposed the use of chloroquine, this drug against malaria, whose effectiveness has not yet been proven according to him. To fight against Covid-19, "  it is science and not politics that must guide us  ," added the doctor in his statement.

Two days ago, American experts advised doctors not to treat their patients with Covid-19 with the double treatment hydroxychloroquine and azithromycin, a dual therapy promoted in France by Professor Didier Raoult .

Asked during his press briefing to find out whether Rick Bright had been dismissed for political reasons, Donald Trump who very early on extolled the merits of this treatment, dodged the question: "  Maybe it was, maybe not be,  "replied the president, adding:"  In any case, I do not know who it is .

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• United States
• Coronavirus
• Health and Medicine