Brazil’s president weighs replacing health minister for fourth time in year since pandemic began

Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro is considering replacing the country’s health minister, which would be the fourth time the position has changed hands since the COVID-19 pandemic began.

Reuters reported Monday that the country’s current health minister confirmed that Bolsonaro is searching for candidates to lead Brazil’s health ministry, though no timeline has been announced as to when his current minister would resign or lose his job.

“The president is thinking of a replacement in the ministry and is evaluating names,” Eduardo Pazuello told reporters.

Pazuello, the third health minister to lead Brazil’s public health agency in a year, has no formal medical training and has faced criticism in recent weeks for the nation’s handling of the pandemic. Brazil’s coronavirus deaths and new infections have skyrocketed since the beginning of the year, even as many other countries see the opposite trend.

Brazil is also home to a new variant of the disease that experts warn could be more contagious than previous versions. Some studies have indicated that the Brazilian variant may also weaken the impact of vaccines.

Brazil’s capital city of Brasilia instituted a two-week lockdown at the end of last month in an attempt to slow the virus’s spread, but Bolsonaro’s government has continued to face criticism for resisting such measures nationwide.