Brazil’s Bolsonaro named 4th health minister during epidemic

With COVID-19 still raging in Brazil, President Zaire Bolsonaro elected his fourth health minister since the epidemic began, this time the head of the country’s cardiology society who spoke in favor of the country’s conservative leader in the past is.

Marcelo Queiroga will replace Eduardo Pazuelo, an active-duty army general with expertise in logistics, who landed the position last May despite having no prior health experience.

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Earlier on Monday, Plazuelo admitted at a press conference that Bolsonaro had aimed to replace him. The first candidate for the job, cardiologist Ludmila Hajjar, rejected it.

Pazuelo presided over the Healthy Ministry for the longest period of three pandemic ministers before Curioga. The revolving door poses challenges for the government of Latin America’s largest country to implement effective measures to control the spread of the virus – or even agree what measures are necessary.

Pazuelo’s two predecessors left the situation amid a disagreement with Bolsonaro, who criticized widespread social disturbances and supported the use of an anti-malarial drug to treat the disease. He has continued to occupy those positions despite advice from health experts and showing no effect on COVID-19.

Pazuelo proved to be more obedient. Soon after taking the job, his ministry supported the use and distribution of the malaria pill. On several occasions, he states that his boss tells him what to do, and he agrees.

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“The conversation (with Queeroga) was excellent. I already knew him a few years ago. “He does everything to do a good job, which Pazuelo has done to date,” Bolsaro told supporters at the entrance to the presidential residence in Brasilia. Incoming minister.

“Pazuelo’s job was well done in the management part. We are now in a phase that is more aggressive in the fight against the virus, ”the Brazilian president said.

Brazil has recorded approximately 280,000 deaths from the virus, almost all of which were under the supervision of Pazuelo. Recently the toll has deteriorated, with the country currently averaging over 1,800 deaths every day. The health care system of major cities is on the verge of collapse, and lawmakers associated with Bolsonaro have proposed a suitable replacement for Pazuelo, while threatening to pressurize them into their investigation of the crisis.

The country’s top court is also investigating Pazuelo for alleged neglect that contributed to the collapse of the health care system in the state of Amazonas earlier this year. That investigation will now be referred to a lower court judge.

In one particularly embarrassing episode, his ministry mistakenly sent a shipment of vaccines for the Amazonian state to neighboring Ampa State, and vice versa, followed by a briefing for each state.

Pazuelo has faced intense criticism for Brazil’s slow vaccine rollout. According to Our World in Data, an online research site that compares official government figures, only 5.4% of Brazilians have been vaccinated. Nearly all were shots of Chinese biopharmaceutical firm Synovac, which Bolsonaro repeatedly doubted.

Pazuelo’s health ministry also delayed his decision to buy the vaccine from the government of the state of São Paulo, until there was no other option left to start the vaccination in January.

The only vaccine deal Pazuelo signed at the time, for 100 million doses of the AstraZeneca jab, has so far brought a few shots into the arms of the Brazilians. His ministry has since scrambled to enter into tie-ups with other suppliers, with deals recently to acquire shots of Pfizer and Sputnik.

Pazuelo said at the press conference that he would not resign, and stressed that there would be continuity with whoever accepted his position.

Cardiologist Hajjar had already revealed that Bolsonaro interviewed him to replace Pozuelo. She told television channel Globo News that science has already ruled against the treatment. Bolsonaro and his supporters continue to champion, such as drugs to fight malaria and parasites, and require the country to adopt more restrictive measures on activity. She said that she disapproved of the situation.

He said, “They need to choose someone who is aligned with them, their ideas, their vision and the government’s will. And I am certainly not that person. He also warned that Brazil may suffer more than 600,000 deaths from COVID-19 unless it withdraws from its current course.

Quiroga has already called Bolsonaro “a great Brazilian”. His social media channels have not criticized the president’s handling of the epidemic and pushed for a quick vaccine rollout.