From bio to necropolitics: the health policy, narratives and actions of the Bolsonaro government’s neoliberalism and its impacts on the elderly in the Covid-19 pandemic

Abstract

 This article is part of a research project on the narratives of authorities and social groups and their impacts on society, having as a general theme the coronavirus pandemic. The following text addresses the speeches and actions of the Bolsonaro government about the pandemic and its consequences for the elderly population in Brazil. From a methodological point of view, the speeches and actions that had repercussions on internet portals, newspapers and social networks are considered. The discussion about the data is based on the concept of biopolitics, the end of the Welfare State and the advance of neoliberalism on public health policies and the necropolitics adopted by the government, abandoning populations most vulnerable to the SARS-CoV-2 virus, which causes of the coronavirus pandemic. The results demonstrate that the option for not fighting the governmental coronavirus has imposed suffering and deaths on the population made up of people over 60 years of age, making up over 73% of the total deaths in Brazil until April 2021.