“In the last two days [the doctors] they were very hopeful, “said their daughter Thais Saturnino Mendonça.” The fever was over. The lung and respiratory condition was evolving. It was good.”
However, he died suddenly. “The will of God,” said Thais.
In Brazil, home to the worst coronavirus outbreak in South America, where as many as 50,000 new cases have been reported per day, the drug is the heart of a feverish fight over politics and faith. Science has shown that it does not work, but the Ministry of Health and the President of Brazil insist that it does, drawing many in Brazil with false hopes.
Mendonça’s brother, Juraci, is now also taking hydroxychloroquine, as a prophylactic, as part of another government-backed, untested drug cocktail with ivermectin and azithromycin.
“I am here,” he said, as evidence of the drug’s effectiveness. “Other people in my circle of friends who also used hydroxychloroquine did very well. But it’s that question: Sometimes a different problem makes the person end up in a more serious situation. Got it?”
“We are studying the harmful effects, and everything we see now, with a good level of evidence, is against use,” he told CNN.
Globally, the debate on hydroxychloroquine, settled by science but still on the lips of politicians looking to hope to sell, is wasting time, said former US Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy . “All the time we often end up spending to dispel these hydroxychloroquine myths is time that we are not spending working to solve the real problem before us,” he told CNN.
Brazil has imported millions of doses of the drug, and a survey published Sunday by the São Paulo State Medical Association showed that fifty percent of doctors in the state felt pressure to prescribe the unproven drug.
Bolsonaro has recently moderated his rhetoric on hydroxychloroquine, saying he is not recommending it, but that patients should choose with their doctor. However, repeated photo opportunities and the Ministry of Health’s encouragement for patients of all kinds to take it, from pregnant women to moderate cases, have had a major impact.
Supporters gathered Tuesday outside the president’s official residence, the Alvorada Palace in Brasilia, where it was clear that support for the president is unquestionably intertwined with support for the drug. One man was wearing a yellow shirt that said “Stick with Bolsonaro” on the front and “All Power to the People” on the back. A woman in a red jacket, who declined to give her name, criticized the Chinese influence in Brazil.
Another supporter, Felipe, said he expected the president to appear. “Last Sunday he came to lower the flag,” he said. “We are waiting for it because yesterday it tested negative for Covid-19, so today is a day to celebrate.” He then launched into a very precise and detailed description of how hydroxychloroquine blocks virus transmission in cells, a theory that has been contradicted study after study.
However, drug advocates don’t always rule out other proven measures. At the Evangelical Nucléo da Fé church on the road in Brasilia, protocols based on science are mixed with faith. Worshipers wear masks and use hand sanitizer gel on their hands, with each family group sitting approximately six feet away, as recommended by health experts from around the world. However, emotions take hold of his support for the President, and apparently the drug he claims worked for him.
Pastor Wilbert Batista took the stage and began with kind words for Bolsonaro, with whom he has often been pictured drinking coffee and having lunch, even traveling together in a helicopter. In the time of Jesus they had kings, he said to the parishioners, “but in our country we have a president, and it is our biblical duty to pray for our president. And we have done it in several vigils. God once guided me to the President, and in the next few days I hope he will do it again. Why? Because God knows I have been praying for him. Because of this, Brazil is already having results that cannot be explained. Our country is working well, in the name of Jesus. . ” Bolsonaro’s image was stamped on the stage screen.
In addition, Batista told CNN that hydroxychloroquine is popular and seems to link it to his congregation’s lack of death. “Medicine is not our focus, however, in the church we have doctors and other doctors also agree with the treatment that the president talks about,” he said, adding that they do not talk about medicine in the church. “Not a single death in our church, not a single one. One person was hospitalized, others lived without symptoms, in a congregation of 3,000. Some of those infected have taken the protocol for hydroxychloroquine with azithromycin. Others follow the medical advice of the doctors. “
Behind him, worship continued, huge doors on either side of the congregation blowing a clean wind over his outstretched palms.
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