Jaqueline Teresinha Ferreira

Anthropology – Institut d’Études en Santé Collectif – Université Fédérale du Rio de Janeiro

The year 2020 was marked by the coronavirus pandemic. Brazil, a country particularly hard hit by the disease, is a terrible example on the world stage because of the high number of people infected and deaths resulting from the lack of programmes and policies to prevent and combat the disease. In this scenario, the scientific denial propagated by the Brazilian government prevailed and was quickly adopted by many doctors who, despite all the scientific evidence, actively defended and prescribed treatment with hydroxychloroquine and non-prevention with vaccines. This study seeks to understand the reasons that motivated these doctors in Brazil and France, by contextualising the negationist discourse in the Brazilian and French contexts.