The use of hydroxychloroquine and chloroquine for the prevention and treatment of coronavirus: the scientific controversy that marked the first pandemic of the 21st century in Brazil

Abstract

This article comes from the initial research developed for the 8th Meeting for the Dissemination ofScience and Culture around the theme "Controversies". In this sense, the goal was to analyze thenuances of public perception through comments on Facebook posts of the newspapers G1 and Estadãoon the use of Hydroxychloroquine and Chloroquine as treatment methods for the disease caused by theSARS-CoV-2, among the period from 2020 to 2021. For this, a timeline was drawn from the beginningof the studies on the possible effectiveness of the drug, passing through the emergence of evidence thatproved the lack of benefits of the same, the political incentive on the population's adherence to themedication; the infodemic impact, and cases in which the treatment was carried out even without theproper authorization causing serious consequences, as is the example of what happened in the PreventSenior private health network.