The inner workings of Bolsonaro’s ‘unofficial’ health ministry

In September 2020, President Jair Bolsonaro hosted an unofficial meeting at the presidential palace with virologists, doctors, and politicians — none of whom wore masks — discussing ways to deal with the pandemic. Besides the irony of the president organizing a meeting in flagrant breach of coronavirus safety rules precisely to discuss the Covid-19 crisis, the most notable aspect of this gathering was that the Health Minister was nowhere to be seen.

During this September meeting, the need to purchase vaccines was brushed aside and their reliability was called into question, and those present instead discussed the promotion of antimalarial drug hydroxychloroquine, scientifically proven to be ineffective at treating the coronavirus. Indeed, the group intended to make the drug part of the government’s official pandemic policy.

Footage made public by the Brazilian press last week supports claims that this group acted as a form of parallel Health Ministry, unofficially guiding President Bolsonaro on policies during the coronavirus pandemic over some two dozen meetings. 

The analogous group was coordinated by presidential aide Arthur Weintraub, brother of Brazil’s disgraced former Education Minister. In the September meeting, infectious...