“We did a phenomenal job with the pandemic,” former President Donald Trump claimed during his recent debate with Vice President Kamala Harris.
As the former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), I know just how absurd that statement is.
I witnessed firsthand the Trump administration’s mishandling of the pandemic. In early 2020, I repeatedly warned about critical shortages in medical supplies and the need for a coordinated national response. For raising these concerns and opposing the promotion of unproven, potentially dangerous treatments like hydroxychloroquine — which later studies showed was not only ineffective, but may also have contributed to unnecessary deaths — I faced retaliation and was ultimately removed from my position. My experience underscores the administration’s pattern of sidelining scientific expertise in favor of political opportunism and disinformation, an approach that not only had devastating consequences for the American people but also severely eroded public trust in science and public health institutions.
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