Government Evaluates Appointing a Pro-Chloroquine Doctor to ANVISA

Hélio Angotti is defended by a wing aligned with Covid denialists

Brasília

President Jair Bolsonaro is looking for names to join the top of National Health Surveillance Agency (ANVISA) and respond to the dispute with the head of the regulatory body, Antonio Barra Torres.

The idea is to nominate someone with a profile aligned with the government and in favor of Bolsonaro’s Covid denialist rhetoric for the director’s position, which will become vacant in July. Hélio Angotti, a pro-chloroquine doctor who heads the Ministry of Health’s Science and Technology Secretariat, has been submitted as a candidate.

Hélio Angotti Neto durante depoimento para o MPF no Amazonas
Hélio Angotti Neto - Reprodução

The name was put on the table in conversations by government officials in favor of the "Covid kit."

President Bolsonaro's nomination needs to be approved by the Senate, and the secretary will encounter resistance in the center. Members of these parties say that Angotti's chances of reaching ANVISA are slim.

A follower of writer Olavo de Carvalho, guru of Bolsonarism, Angotti is one of the leaders of the pro-chloroquine nucleus of Health, also integrated by secretary Mayra Pinheiro, known as "Captain Chloroquine."

Translated by Kiratiana Freelon

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