Health experts were sidelined as Bolsonaro chose to embrace an unproven coronavirus medication, following the lead of President Trump via specialreports
FILE PHOTO: Brazil's President Jair Bolsonaro wearing a protective and other Brazil's ministers attend a national flag hoisting ceremony in front the Alvorada Palace, amid the coronavirus disease outbreak in Brasilia, Brazil May 12, 2020. REUTERS/Adriano Machado/File Photo
“That correction was due to pressure,” said Julio Croda, an epidemiologist who was then the head of the Health Ministry’s department of immunization and transmissible diseases. The intervention by the chief of staff’s office has not been previously reported. Brazil now has the world’s second-worst outbreak behind the United States, with more than 374,000 confirmed cases. More than 23,000 Brazilians have died from COVID-19.
“The strategy of the Brazilian response to COVID-19 was not impaired at any point,” the ministry said.Reuters interviewed more than two dozen current and former government officials, medical experts, healthcare industry representatives and doctors to paint the most complete picture yet of Brazil’s missteps in containing the coronavirus outbreak in South America’s largest country.
“One thing that has been a shining light in Brazil has been their public health system,” said Albert Ko, a professor at the Yale School of Public Health who has decades of experience in Brazil. “To see that all disintegrate so quickly, it’s just been very sad.”When Brazil’s first coronavirus case was confirmed on February 26, the Health Ministry had been preparing for nearly two months.
Cabinet members tried numerous times to persuade Bolsonaro to endorse a nationwide lockdown, according to a person with direct knowledge of the discussions. Bolsonaro refused, the person said, believing the virus would soon pass and that health officials were exaggerating the need for physical distancing that had proved effective in other parts of the world.
That prediction was far off the mark. Manufacturing activity has collapsed, unemployment is rising and Brazil’s currency is down around 30% against the dollar this year. On May 15, Barclays cut its 2020 gross domestic product forecast for Brazil to -5.7% from -3.0%. It cited Brazil’s “ineffective” policy in dealing with the pandemic.
Vieira did not respond to a message on LinkedIn. The Superintendence of Private Insurance, which she leads, said in response to questions about her comments that she attended the mid-March meeting at the invitation of then-Health Minister Luiz Henrique Mandetta to understand the ministry’s projections.
Within 24 hours, the ministry had changed the recommendations on its website. It removed guidance on self-quarantines for travelers and the cancellation of cruises, saying those measures were up “for review.” And it revised the cancellation of large events to apply only to areas with local transmission.On March 15, Bolsonaro ignored his own pronouncement from three days earlier discouraging mass rallies by his supporters.
Three people familiar with the situation told Reuters the new cabinet effectively superseded the cross-agency group that had already been set up inside the Health Ministry. The big difference, they said, was that Braga Netto now had the final say, instead of public health experts, and that economic concerns were given more weight.
Mandetta’s popularity added to the tension. An early-April survey by pollster Datafolha showed that the Health Ministry under his leadership had a 76% approval rating, more than twice that of Bolsonaro. Teich’s departure accelerated military influence within the Health Ministry. Eduardo Pazuello, an active-duty Army general with no medical background, is now interim health minister. Of the eight people at the top of the ministry, only one had a military background in March. Now three of them do. At least 13 military personnel also have been appointed to lower ministry positions.
Brazil’s Army declined to comment, referring questions to the Health Ministry, which also declined to comment on the military’s role.Bolsonaro’s opposition to social distancing and refusal to support local authorities in their attempts to impose lockdowns have helped erode compliance with those measures, experts said.
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