Sao Paulo.– Hydroxychloroquine is not effective against Covid-19. No, definitely not. But the Brazilians are still not sure. After all, the other day a friend’s cousin forwarded a headline on WhatsApp stating that all intensive care beds in the city of Miracatu are empty because the mayor adopted the president’s “early treatment” Jair Bolsonaro, consisting of hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and azithromycin, for Covid-19. Well, Miracatu doesn’t have a hospital. But still, how can we be sure?
That’s just one of dozens of fake news about Covid-19 treatments circulating on social media, including one advocating “nebulized” hydroxychloroquine, Bolsonaro’s newest obsession. More than a year after the pandemic, false claims are still swirling. Is it true that masks reduce the flow of oxygen to the lungs and can cause cancer? Is the coronavirus a biological weapon created by China? What about involving Bill Gates, Mark Zuckerberg Y George Soros? (The fact-checkers have been very busy.)
Even now, after the death of half a million citizens, Brazilians are broadcasting delusional claims that hospitals are empty and people are being buried alive to inflate the coronavirus statistics. Last year, as daily deaths soared, stories of empty coffins and mock burials abounded. It is almost as if Brazilians could not – would not – accept that things could really go so bad and take refuge in paranoia, suspicion and conspiracy. In this, of course, they had a guide: Bolsonaro, at all times, has tried to spread hoaxes and disinformation.
Perhaps this sounds familiar. After all, aren’t fake news and Covid denial global problems? But there is something special about Brazil. An interdisciplinary group of Brazilian researchers found not only that the country has the highest number of false claims in the world – only India and the United States have more – but also that Brazil’s disinformation is remarkably isolated from other countries. This could be, the researchers conclude, “strong evidence that the country is distancing itself from the ongoing scientific debate.”
Over the past few months, unsurprisingly, misinformation about vaccines has proliferated: Vaccines appear to cause 10 types of cancer, infertility, autoimmune diseases, suicidal thoughts, heart attacks, allergic reactions, blindness and “homosexuality.” They could alter our genetic code. They come with a microchip (or nanobots) to collect our biometric data. And they are often made from cells from aborted fetuses.
“It’s like choosing which side of the flat Earth we are going to jump from,” said Dr. Luana Araújo, infectious disease physician, during the parliamentary inquiry into the government’s handling of the pandemic. It could have been describing any of our strange beliefs. But he was referring to our government’s persistent promotion of ineffective drugs to prevent or cure Covid-19. And that’s the heart of the problem: When the president himself, with the help of the state apparatus, constantly shares false information about the pandemic, people cannot be expected to be skeptical when told that boldo tea can cure Covid in three. hours.
In the absence of a public information campaign on the virus, for which there is no need, as Bolsonaro recently said, because “everyone knows what is happening,” many Brazilians are forced to trust the partial information available on the platforms. social networks. That gives enormous power to those who sell fake news.
Recent investigations revealed that almost one in four Brazilians, following the example of their president, whose response to the positive test was taking hydroxychloroquine, took some medicine “as an early treatment” for Covid-19. In comparison, only 13 percent of Brazilians are fully vaccinated.
But there are limits to Mr. Bolsonaro’s powers of suggestion. Despite your best efforts, there is one fact you cannot erase: the virus has claimed the lives of more than 520,000 Brazilians
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