‘BANK OF BARDA’

Hundreds of Millions in Funds to Fight Infectious Diseases Squandered: Watchdog

For years, funds allocated for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority were squandered, according to a new watchdog report.

Hundreds of millions of dollars meant to help the U.S. prepare to fight deadly infectious diseases were squandered over the last decade on random expenses like moving office furniture, The Washington Post reports. The misuse of funds intended for the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority was detailed in a 233-page report released Wednesday by the Office of Special Counsel. According to the report, while the funds were meant to be spent on developing vaccines and medications, it was an open secret for at least a decade that officials in the Department of Health and Human Services regularly used the money as a “slush-fund” for unrelated projects, with staffers even referring to it as the “bank of BARDA.”

Over a period of four years, $897,491 went toward paying the salaries of staffers who were not even employed by the biomedical office, while an unspecified amount was used to have office furniture removed, according to the report. The decade-long diversion of funds was initially brought to light by a whistleblower, but the inspector general backed up many of the allegations in Wednesday’s report. “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 to President Joe Biden. “Equally concerning is how widespread and well-known this practice appeared to be for nearly a decade.”