Ousted vaccine official Dr. Rick Bright to testify U.S. must act to prevent 'unprecedented illness and fatalities'

Dr. Rick Bright, the federal official who was allegedly ousted while leading coronavirus vaccine development, reportedly plans to warn Congress that the United States is on the precipice of the "darkest winter in modern history."

Bright, who filed a whistleblower complaint after he was removed as director of the the Department of Health and Human Services's Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority, will testify before Congress on Thursday, and CNN obtained a a copy of his prepared remarks. Bright plans to reiterate his claim that HHS leadership was "dismissive" of his "dire predictions" about the coronavirus, and he'll urge the U.S. to "act urgently" and ramp up its response.

"Our window of opportunity is closing," he will testify. "If we fail to develop a national coordinated response based in science, I fear the pandemic will get far worse and be prolonged, causing unprecedented illness and fatalities. Without clear planning and implementation of the steps that I and other experts have outlined, 2020 will be darkest winter in modern history."

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Bright warns of the dangers of states reopening too soon, echoing comments made by Dr. Anthony Fauci, and says the U.S. must increase public education on how to slow the spread of the virus, ramp up production of equipment and supplies, "facilitate equitable disruption" of equipment and supplies, and develop a national testing strategy. He concludes by reflecting that "we were not as prepared as we should have been" for the pandemic, but "we need to focus on getting things right going forward."

The Office of Special Council has found "reasonable grounds" to believe Bright's ouster was retaliatory, and Bright will reportedly repeat his claim that his removal was in part because he "resisted efforts to promote" a drug touted by President Trump. A spokesperson for HHS told CNN the department "strongly disagrees" with his allegations.