Anvisa asks police protection for directors threatened with death

The director-president of Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency), Antonio Barra Torres, said he asked for protection from the Federal Police for directors and for the agency’s building facilities in Brasília.

The request came after the five directors are threatened with death if the agency approves the use of immunizers against Covid for children. According to him, there are already three threats forwarded, the second and third may have come from the same source.

“We also have the request in relation to the board that was objectively threatened and I also extended it to some general managers who work directly in the vaccine analysis. So, this request was made, I regret that we have to do it, because the fight against crime by the Federal Police is also too exhausting and demands a lot from these valuable professionals,” he said in an interview with Globo News.

The Federal Police superintendency in Brasília opened an investigation to investigate the threats suffered by the directors.

Members of the board are Antonio Barra Torres (CEO), Meiruze Sousa Freitas (second board), Cristiane Rose Jourdan Gomes (third board), Rômison Rodrigues Mota (fourth board) and Alex Machado Campos (fifth board).

“There is a climate of insecurity, because all this analysis of drugs to fight the pandemic, all the measures that involve fighting the pandemic are too exhausting, require a lot of attention and dedication,” he highlighted.

The first threat was made by email on October 28 and was forwarded to the agency’s five directors. In addition to the principals, school institutions in the state of Paraná are also the target of the aforementioned death threats.

“I’m taking the difficult attitude of removing him from the school environment to preserve my child’s safety. Making it clear to those responsible, from top to bottom: whoever threatens, whoever threatens my child’s physical safety will be killed,” he says the text.

The author of this email is Douglas Bozza. THE sheet, he identified himself as a writer, said that he lives in Paraná and that he did not want to threaten the directors of Anvisa.

“I pose no threat to anyone there. For God’s sake,” he said. He said he wants to receive documents from Anvisa on the effectiveness and safety of vaccines.

Bozza confirmed that he testified to the police. He stated that the email was a “gimmick” to achieve some goals, but he declined to mention which ones. He also said that he will leave Brazil if a vaccine receives approval for use in children.

Anvisa also evaluates asking for precautionary measures so that the authors of the threats cannot approach the agency.

The next day, Anvisa received a second electronic mail. This time, he was anonymous with threats to servers, directors, outsourced employees and their families.

Anvisa communicated about threats to the presidencies of the Republic, the Senate, the Chamber and the STF (Supreme Federal Court). In addition to the PGR (Attorney General’s Office), Ministries of Justice and Health, Civil House, Federal Police and Public Security Secretariat of the Federal District.

There are still no requests from Anvisa to release the application of doses of vaccine against Covid-19 in children. Pfizer said it must ask the regulatory agency to apply the ComiRNAty vaccine to children in November.

The Butantan Institute will enter next Monday (8) with a new request from Anvisa for the approval of the use of Coronavac in children and adolescents between 3 and 17 years old.

According to the information, confirmed by the sheet, the agency is finishing gathering the data requested by the agency, which denied the first request for the use of the immunizing agent against Covid-19 in this age group, made on July 30th.