Paper short abstract:

National health policies to combat the coronavirus in Brazil were the result of power struggles that often clashed with scientific recommendations. This proposal deals with the effects that these policies had on vulnerable populations in the interior of the state of Paraíba.

Paper long abstract:

In Brazil, the health crisis caused by the coronavirus has worsened social inequality. Not only are the deaths recorded by COVID-19 in the country demonstrably higher in poor, black and peripheral populations, but these were also the populations most affected in their socioeconomic conditions over the years 2020 and 2021. This situation was significantly worsened because of the inefficiency of national policies to fight the virus. The narratives that guided these policies did not follow what was recommended by the scientific community or the WHO. Instead, they were the object of dispute by various political agents, including the President of the Republic, health authorities, state governors, who went from complete denial of the dangers of the disease and encouraging the use of ineffective medication, to the hasty relaxation of distancing and contingency measures. As a result, the country recorded more than 650,000 deaths and a socio-economic crisis that increased poverty levels disproportionately. Based on an ethnographic study carried out in three municipalities in Cariri Ocidental, a micro-region in the state of Paraíba characterized by high rates of inequality and extreme poverty, I propose to discuss how health policies were defined locally in response to these narrative disputes and which were its effects on the lives of residents.