COVID-19 and Social Participation: For a Necessary Dialogue in Facing the Pandemic

Abstract

This article aimed to identify the news published in the Brazilian media that constituted relevant social divergences during a certain period of the COVID-19 pandemic (March 2020 to July 2021). In this context, it was analyzed the compliance of the federative entities with the constitutional norms that encourage dialogue and social participation in health. This article also investigated the observance of norms that impose democratic values in the health área by the perspective of Habermas’ theory of communicative action. The recommendation of drugs without scientific efficacy for the treatment of COVID-19 and the respective positions of health institutions were studied as a practical example of social divergence in facing the pandemic. The research concluded that it is essential a dialogue to legitimize choices in the health area and to make management acts compatible with the values of the democratic state of law and with the guidelines of social participation in the Brazilian National Health System. The lack of social participation made it difficult to establish harmony in the fight against the pandemic because some decisions, such as the recommendation of ineffective medicines, were questionable as they did not have adequate justifications due to the lack of debates with the scientific community and other segments of society.