Brazilian Health Minister sows distrust in vaccines for teenagers

When the state of São Paulo rolled out Brazil’s first coronavirus vaccines on January 17, the Health Ministry treated the news as a crisis. Head of the department at the time, Eduardo Pazuello gave an enraged press conference complaining that citizens had received vaccines, calling the move a “marketing stunt.” 

Mr. Pazuello was replaced by physician Marcelo Queiroga a few months later, sparking hope that the Brazilian government would take a more science-based approach to the pandemic. But Mr. Queiroga has chipped away at that optimism on multiple occasions, either by echoing President Jair Bolsonaro’s nonsense against facemasks or today, when he changed the country’s vaccination policies and raised questions about the reliability of immunizers.

The Health Ministry decided to stop administering vaccines for teenagers without pre-existing conditions. Back in June, federal regulator Anvisa had approved the use of immunizers in all teenagers aged 12 to 17.

Hours later, Mr. Queiroga held...