After Bolsonaro’s support, Queiroga orders studies to downgrade Covid to endemic

Even under resistance from state and municipal managers, the Minister of Health, Marcelo Queiroga, started to treat as a priority downgrading the status of Covid-19 from a pandemic (when there is a global health emergency) to endemic (stage of coexistence with the disease). virus, with a stable number of cases and deaths).

The idea had already been discussed in the portfolio, but gained momentum after President Jair Bolsonaro (PL) publicly supported the change in the status of the health crisis.

The public commitment of the Chief Executive, who distorts data to oppose health restrictions in the pandemic, puts health technicians under pressure to find a way out.

Queiroga gathered his team last Friday (4) to find data that reinforce the discourse that the new coronavirus can be seen in a milder way.

Department technicians were tasked with monitoring the impact of Carnival parties on the disease, in addition to other indicators, such as vaccination coverage, and delivering in the second half of the month an analysis of the Covid scenario in Brazil.

Health must decide on the change by the end of this month.

as showed the sheet, the minister’s main idea is to find a way to defend the end of restrictions against the virus, such as the mandatory use of masks. Queiroga has also told allies that he wants to be recognized as the manager who ended the health crisis in Brazil.

Last Thursday (3), President Bolsonaro posted a photo on social media next to the minister and said that Health is studying “downgrading the current situation of Covid-19 in Brazil to endemic”.

But the change mainly comes up against the approval for emergency use of vaccines and medicines, which could end with the end of the health crisis. Health’s legal team assesses whether it is possible to set up an exceptional rule to keep these products in use.

Under current Anvisa (National Health Surveillance Agency) rules, Coronavac and Janssen’s vaccine, in addition to other medicines, lose emergency use permission if the government declares the end of Espin (Public Health Emergency of National Importance).

This “emergency” status was recognized in a Health ordinance of February 2020. The government also maps whether the change could make it difficult to release extraordinary credits, which are not included in the spending ceiling, among other measures linked to the pandemic.

The Ministry of Health team is evaluating which rules could be impacted if the government decides to change the way it handles the pandemic.

Informally activated by Health, Anvisa technicians also began to think of ways to maintain the use of these products even if the government downgrades the health crisis. One option is to change agency resolutions to link this endorsement to other rules.

Health technicians are evaluating Covid indicators in Brazil for the analysis requested by Queiroga, such as data on disease transmission, incidence, population vaccination and occupancy of ICU (intensive care unit) beds.

The minister also asked the team to observe decisions from other countries. Earlier this year, the United Kingdom and Denmark, for example, decided to consider Covid-19 as an endemic disease and to relax restrictions. In general, the disease becomes endemic when it is recurrent in a region and there is no unexpected increase in cases.

The interpretation of some SUS managers, however, is that this is not yet the moment for change. One of the reasons is that the number of deaths in the country is still seen as high by these managers.

This Monday (7), Brazil recorded 211 deaths from Covid and 20,644 cases of the disease. As a result, the country reached 652,418 lives lost and 29,066,590 people infected with Sars-CoV-2. The moving average of deaths now stands at 425 per day, and that of infections at 40,074 per day.

Vice President of Conass and Health Secretary of Espírito Santo, Nesio Fernandes told sheet, at the end of February, that there is no epidemiological support to decree the end of the pandemic. He also stated that it is necessary to wait for the behavior of the BA.2 subvariant of the ômicron, in addition to the period of highest incidence of influenza, to make any decision.

Fernandes said that opening a speech to end the pandemic can also hinder communication and mobilization of the vaccination campaign, which still needs to move forward.

“We are talking about the campaign of multiple doses being applied to people. To get a high degree of adhesion from society, it has to understand that there is a pandemic situation. If people think the pandemic is over because the status has changed, many of them leave to take the vaccine thinking there is no need.”

Some SUS managers believe that this change is a strategy to help President Jair Bolsonaro’s campaign, but it will generate wear and tear for the Ministry of Health. The measure would be a new nod to Bolsonaro. Queiroga has bet on pleasing the government’s base of supporters to hold on to the position.