Changing tack, Covid hearings decide to follow the chloroquine money instead

The first phase of the Senate’s Covid hearings committee established that the Jair Bolsonaro administration had deliberately obstructed vaccine purchases, choosing instead to bet on drugs that scientists claim have no effect against the coronavirus. But after a series of disappointing witness statements — including many that simply didn’t happen because deponents were excused from taking the stand —, senators want to explore a new line of investigation: did government officials have financial motivations for pushing ineffective Covid-19 treatments?

This represents a shift from the committee’s initial approach, which consisted in exposing how the government allowed the coronavirus to spread unchecked as a result of omissions and its disregard for scientific evidence.

This week, the committee lifted confidentiality on banking, fiscal, phone, and digital records pertaining to the owners of pharmaceutical companies that produce chloroquine and hydroxychloroquine, ivermectin, and azithromycin. Together, this cocktail of drugs amounts to what the government describes as “early treatment” for Covid-19. 

The committee will also question Brazilian representatives of...