Watchdog: HHS misused millions intended to address public health threats, vaccine research
27 January 2021
The U.S. Office of Special Counsel alerted the White House and Congress on Wednesday of an investigation that found the Department of Health and Human Services misused millions of dollars that were budgeted for vaccine research and public health emergencies for Ebola, Zika and now the COVID-19 pandemic.
Why it matters: The more than 200-page investigation corroborated claims from a whistleblower, showing the agency's violation of the Purpose Statute spanned both the Obama and Trump administrations and paid for unrelated projects like salaries, news subscriptions and the removal of office furniture.
The state of play: A whistleblower complaint in 2018 alleged the Office of the Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response had been misusing money since 2010 that Congress had intended for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority to use for the development of vaccines, drugs and other therapies. Staff frequently referred to the research arm as the "bank of BARDA."
The investigation is still calculating the total amount of funds misspent, but as recently as fiscal year 2019, approximately $25 million was taken from BARDA’s Advanced Research and Development programs and improperly given to the assistant secretary's office, the report says.
- The inspector general found that between fiscal years 2013 and 2017, BARDA paid $897,491 for the salaries of staff who did not actually work for the agency.
- The office also flagged the assistant secretary’s office for not providing adequate details to Congress on how BARDA spent $517 million in “management and administrative” costs over a decade.
What they're saying: “I am deeply concerned about [the] apparent misuse of millions of dollars in funding meant for public health emergencies like the one our country is currently facing with the COVID-19 pandemic," special counsel Henry Kerner wrote in a letter to President Biden on Wednesday.
- "Equally concerning is how widespread and well-known this practice appeared to be for nearly a decade.”
What's next: The agency estimates it will complete this review by this summer. HHS is doing an internal review to determine whether it violated the Antideficiency Act, another law related to misuse of federal funds, according to Kerner's letter.
Transcripts show George Floyd told police "I can't breathe" over 20 times
Section2Newly released transcripts of bodycam footage from the Minneapolis Police Department show that George Floyd told officers he could not breathe more than 20 times in the moments leading up to his death.
Why it matters: Floyd's killing sparked a national wave of Black Lives Matter protests and an ongoing reckoning over systemic racism in the United States. The transcripts "offer one the most thorough and dramatic accounts" before Floyd's death, The New York Times writes.
The state of play: The transcripts were released as former officer Thomas Lane seeks to have the charges that he aided in Floyd's death thrown out in court, per the Times. He is one of four officers who have been charged.
- The filings also include a 60-page transcript of an interview with Lane. He said he "felt maybe that something was going on" when asked if he believed that Floyd was having a medical emergency at the time.
What the transcripts say:
- Floyd told the officers he was claustrophobic as they tried to get him into the squad car.
- The transcripts also show Floyd saying, "Momma, I love you. Tell my kids I love them. I'm dead."
- Former officer Derek Chauvin, who had his knee on Floyd's neck for over eight minutes, told Floyd, "Then stop talking, stop yelling, it takes a heck of a lot of oxygen to talk."
Read the transcripts via DocumentCloud.