Health calls Felipe Neto and Drauzio Varella to talk about the pandemic

At the invitation of the Ministry of Health, doctor Drauzio Varella and Lulista YouTuber, Felipe Neto, are among the speakers at the Seminar for the design and creation of the Covid-19 Pandemic Memorial, which takes place this Monday (11) and Tuesday fair (12), in the Ambassador Wladimir Murtinho auditorium, at the Itamaraty Palace.

Felipe Neto and Drauzio Varella are scheduled to speak from 2:30 pm this Monday (11) in a panel that will debate the topic: Information as an ally of science during and after the pandemic.

Criticized for the abrupt change of position regarding the left and President Lula (PT), Felipe Neto is part of a working group set up by the Ministry of Human Rights to combat “hate speech and extremism”.

In May last year, Neto participated in an event promoted by UNESCO in defense of press freedom at the request of Lula (PT).

During the most acute period of the health crisis caused by the Chinese virus, in December 2020, Felipe Neto was caught playing football with his friends.

Since the beginning of the restrictive measures imposed by governors and mayors, the YouTuber has positioned himself in favor of isolation and social distancing under the pretext of preventing the spread of Covid-19.

After the negative repercussion of the football video, Neto apologized on his social networks and announced a 14-day isolation period.

“I was wrong. I decided to play one last football of the year. As a goalkeeper, going back and forth wearing a mask, without contact with anyone and using alcohol on everything. Still, it’s a mistake. I won’t do it again until the vaccine. I apologize for the bad example”, said the YouTuber at the time.

Doctor Drauzio Varella created controversy because of a video from January 30, 2020 in which he stated that there was no need to panic and that Covid-19 was just a “little cold”. In the video, Varella also says that restrictive measures would not be justified due to the likely arrival of the Chinese virus in Brazil.

“You open the newspaper, coronavirus on the front page of all Brazilian newspapers and all newspapers in the world. What impression does that give? The impression that a catastrophe is happening. See those images that we heard about the Spanish flu […] This will never happen, firstly because this virus does not have that potential. Of every 100 people who catch the virus, 80, 90 people have a minor cold,” said the doctor at the time.

Weeks later, in March 2020, the doctor recorded another video saying that “minimizing the situation, calling the new coronavirus ‘little flu’ or ‘fantasy’, is irresponsible”.

The doctor published the second video on March 23, 2020, three days after former president Jair Bolsonaro (PL) called Covid-19 a “little flu”.