Morning Briefing
Summaries of health policy coverage from major news organizations
Whistleblower Quits Job At NIH, Says He's Been Given No Work Since Sept. 4
Stat: Rick Bright, Federal Vaccine Expert Turned Whistleblower, Resigns NIH Post
Rick Bright, the Trump administration vaccine expert turned whistleblower, resigned from the federal government Tuesday, according to a press release from his lawyer. Bright, who headed the powerful Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, was abruptly reassigned in April to a lesser position at the National Institutes of Health. Bright has alleged he was moved after raising concerns about the Trump administration’s response to Covid-19 and nepotism within the Department of Health and Human Services. In May, he filed a formal whistleblower complaint against his former employer. (Florko, 10/6)
The New York Times: Whistle-Blowing Scientist Quits Government With Final Broadside
Rick Bright, a senior vaccine scientist who said he was demoted this spring for complaining about “cronyism” and political interference in science, resigned his final government post on Tuesday, saying he had been sidelined and left with nothing to do. In a new addendum to the whistle-blower complaint he filed in May, Dr. Bright’s lawyers say officials at the National Institutes of Health, where he worked after his demotion, rejected his idea for a national coronavirus testing strategy “because of political considerations.” He also accused them of ignoring his request to join the $10 billion effort to fast-track a coronavirus vaccine, known as Operation Warp Speed. (Gay Stolberg, 10/6)
In related news about whistleblower complaints —
Politico: Trump’s Workplace Watchdog Assailed For Lenient Penalties On Covid Safety Violators
The federal agency charged with workplace safety has done little to punish companies when their workers get sick or even die from the coronavirus, as major employers and President Donald Trump’s political appointees have pushed for a much more lenient approach to handling risks like Covid-19 on the job than previous administrations. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration has received 10,485 complaints and referrals about Covid-19 risks at workplaces and closed 8,702 of them during the pandemic. But in these cases -- some involving companies worth millions -- the agency hasn't proposed a single penalty greater than $30,000 for coronavirus-related risks. (Rainey, 10/6)
Atlanta Journal-Constitution: OSHA Eases Reporting Requirements On Worker Infections
The state’s worst coronavirus outbreak at an assisted living facility was at Arbor Terrace at Cascade. There, 54 residents and 36 staff members have tested positive, and 17 residents died.Now, the Fulton County facility is facing a federal fine for failing to protect its workers. The Occupational Safety and Health Administration, the nation’s workplace safety regulator, is proposing a penalty of $13,494 — OSHA’s ceiling amount for a single “serious” violation, though that can be negotiated down. (Edwards, 10/5)
The New York Times: After Meat Workers Die Of Covid-19, Families Fight For Compensation
After Saul Sanchez tested positive for the coronavirus at a hospital in Greeley, Colo., he spoke to his daughter on the phone and asked her to relay a message to his supervisors at work. “Please call JBS and let them know I’m in the hospital,” his daughter Beatriz Rangel remembered him as saying. “Let them know I will be back.” The meat-processing company JBS had employed Mr. Sanchez, 78, at its plant in Greeley for three decades. He was one of at least 291 people there who tested positive for the coronavirus, according to data from the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment. (Fortin, 10/6)
