JAKARTA - Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro announced the appointment of a new health minister, Marcelo Queiroga, a cardiologist to become a new leader in the fight against the COVID-19 pandemic.
Not an easy task, because he took office when Brazil was grappling with an increase in cases of infection and death from the corona virus. He will replace the previous health minister, General Eduardo Pazuello
"Queiroga will follow Pazuello's agenda at the ministry, while accelerating efforts to inject Brazilians in the midst of a coronavirus vaccine launch plagued by delays and inefficiencies," Bolsonaro told reporters.
Serving as minister of health, Queiroga is in one of the darkest times of Brazil's history. The country of Samba has reported more than 11.4 million cases of COVID-19, number two in the world after the United States. Meanwhile, it was recorded that 278,000 people had died.
Not only that, the emergency wards in 22 hospitals in the State of Brazil are almost 100 percent filled, of the 26 hospitals in the state.
Four ministersThe appointment of Queiroga as health minister means that Brazil has changed health ministers four times during the year of the COVID-19 pandemic. Shows how Brazil is coping with the COVID-19 pandemic.
Pazuello, who is an army general, has been criticized for lacking public health expertise and supporting Bolsonaro's policies that are skeptical of COVID-19. For example, the use of the antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine against the corona virus.
Two of his predecessors also stepped down last year, not fully supporting the drug's use. In fact, Bolsonaro also had stated that he did not want to be vaccinated against COVID-19, which increased anti-vaccine sentiment.
In February, Brazil's attorney general opened a preliminary investigation into Pazuello and Bolsonaro for possible negligence, after the health care network in the Amazonas city of Manaus was unprepared for a spike in infections.
The hospital is full, so the community takes care of their family at home. The scarcity of oxygen also causes the patient's family to replenish oxygen on their own. In fact, Amazonas is where the Brazilian variant of COVID-19 was found.
Local and regional lockdown policies to stem the spread of the virus have also drawn protests from Brazilians. Even so, Brazil is also facing a shortage of the COVID-19 vaccine.
The problem of vaccine shortages is also in the spotlight. Although Pazuello said on Monday, Brazil had ordered 100 million doses of the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine and 38 million from Johnson & Johnson. In addition, it is also negotiating 13 million doses of the Moderna Inc. vaccine.
A Fiocruz biomedical center official also said Brazil could start full local production of the AstraZeneca vaccine by July if regulators allow it to relinquish some of its controls.
"This will be important at a time when Brazil faces a vaccine shortage," Fiocruz Vice President Marco Krieger told Reuters. Currently, only 4.6 percent of Brazil's population has received the first dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
With the myriad of problems that exist, of course great hope rests on Marcelo Queiroga's shoulder. Moreover, President Bolsonaro has praised his capacity.
"I have known him for several years. He is not someone I know for a few days. He has everything to do a good job, following up on everything Pazuello has done to this day," Bolsonaro said as quoted by CNN.
"Queiroga will choose his work team and the transition will take place in a week or two. He is much more knowledgeable about health issues. He will take action to reduce the number of people dying from this disease which has affected the whole world," believes Bolsonaro.
Before Queiroga and Pazuello, the post of health minister was Luiz Henrique Mandetta. Status as a doctor, he advocates the application of social distancing and isolation. He was fired by Bolsonaro in April 2020 because of disagreements over the strategy for dealing with the pandemic in the country.
Cardiologist Ludhmila Hajjar was considered for the position, although in the end the post of health minister was occupied by oncologist Nelson Teich. Sharp disagreements with Bolsonaro left Teich in office for less than a month.
In May 2020, Teich who resigned was replaced by Pazuello, who had no prior medical experience and at that time was best known for coordinating military forces during the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and leading operations to deal with the 2018 influx of Venezuelan migrants.
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