To the Editor:

Re “Stand on Drug Led to Ouster, Official Asserts” (front page, April 23):

The firing of Rick Bright is among the worst decisions ever. Dr. Bright is a leading authority on vaccines who has spent his entire career studying and developing vaccines. He is the perfect person to run the Department of Health and Human Services’ Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority.

His expertise is urgently needed as we face the greatest public health crisis of our lifetimes. Abruptly reassigning him to an unrelated position should be the last thing anyone would want to do.

It is painfully apparent that this move was made in retaliation against Dr. Bright for his having properly disputed President Trump’s unfounded assertions that hydroxychloroquine is a miracle drug that can cure coronavirus infections.

When our government chooses to put politics ahead of science, we all suffer. America should not be deprived of Dr. Bright’s contributions to vaccine development as we endeavor to develop a vaccine against Covid-19.