US vaccine expert 'ousted' by Trump to file whistleblower complaint

US vaccine expert Rick Bright who was fired for opposing the chloroquine treatment promoted by President Donald Trump as the cure of the coronvirus pandemic,is to file a whistleblower complaint, his lawyers say.

Under US law, a whistleblower complaint can be filed if a person believes their employer retaliated against them for exercising their rights as an employee.

"In our filing we will make clear that Bright was sidelined for one reason only -because he resisted efforts to provide unfettered access to potentially dangerous drugs, including chloroquine, a drug promoted by the administration as a panacea, but which is untested and possibly deadly when used improperly," a statement from the doctor's lawyers said.

Bright wasthe director of Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA), the government agency for developing and procuring treatments and vaccines foragainst COVID-19.

However, he was removed from this position on Tuesday transferred to a lesser position in the National Institutes of Health.

Bright had claimed that the move was a direct response to his resistance to "misguided directives" to support the use of malaria treatments chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine for coronavirus.

However,Trump had denied the accusation and said that he had "never heard" of him.