Autoridade cognitiva, desinformação e postagens sobre tratamento precoce contra Covid-19: análise de conteúdo dos comentários sobre hidroxicloroquina

Abstract

Introduction: The Covid-19 pandemic raised new discussions in society and, in particular, in the health sector. In Brazil, one of the great debates was about early treatment with medications such as hydroxychloroquine, which, although not recommended by health authorities, was defended by political authorities and by a portion of the population. It is then asked what influences someone to believe in unscientific defenses. Objective: Regarding this, we analyze the content of comments in a publication about a study about hydroxychloroquine, present in a media vehicle in Minas Gerais. As specific objectives we list: Understand what is considered early treatment, based on a literature review; briefly discuss the context of post-truth and concepts such as Rumors, Misinformation, Disinformation, and Cognitive Authority. Method: We adopted as methodology the exploratory-descriptive research and the qualitative-quantitative approach. As data collection, we opted for bibliographic research and data extraction from comments, using content analysis. Results: The results indicate a politicization, of a partisan nature, by the sample of the population surveyed for the treatment of Covid and the pandemic itself; corroborating with thoughts that go against health recommendations. Conclusion: The fact that political authority sometimes generates blind trust in its speech can lead to the death of citizens.