WATCH: 'Very unlikely' a vaccine will be ready in the next few months, Rick Bright says

Vaccine expert Rick Bright told lawmakers on May 14 that he believes “lives would have been saved” if the Trump administration had taken his suggestions to secure proper protective equipment for health care workers to respond to the novel coronavirus outbreak. He told Rep. Debbie Dingell, D-Mich., that “people died” because they didn’t have the proper equipment to protect them from becoming infected. When Dingell pressed him on whether there was any scientific basis to the promise some officials have made on a vaccine becoming available within the next few months, Bright said “it’s very unlikely” the U.S. will be able to vaccinate people for the virus within the next few months. “There’s a lot of hope, but that doesn’t make a vaccine,” he said. The former director of the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, Bright testified on Thursday before the House Committee on Energy and Commerce’s health subcommittee in a hearing dedicated to “protecting scientific integrity” of the country’s response to the coronavirus pandemic. In a whistleblower complaint filed last week, Bright said he was reassigned to a different position in late April for pushing back against the Trump administration’s virus response strategy.

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