RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Both the Ministry of Public Health (MSP) and the U.S. pharmaceutical company Pfizer were ordered last week by Administrative Court Judge Alejandro Recarey to provide information about the Covid vaccines. He did so following a request by lawyer Maximiliano Dentone, who asked for the “suspension of vaccination against Covid-19 in children.”
But instead of answering the judge’s legitimate request, as the government has assured, the Ministry of Public Health and the Presidency of the Republic sought instead to remove Judge Alejandro Recarey from the equation in an attempt to make the matter “disappear”.
Government lawyers argued in a document filed this morning that Recarey was not ‘impartial’ in the matter. In this case “not being impartial” means that the judge is apparently not enough of a mouthpiece for the government and Pfizer.
The request was denied by the judge, who remains on the case.
But it seems that the judge has hit the bull’s eye with his request and put the government in a tough spot. Instead of answering questions, the Uruguayan government is now trying to besmirch the judge. Attack is the best defense, they say.
Regarding the judge, the government’s lawyers argued that the case should be heard by “a judge who has not made prior value judgments that could distort the case at hand and lead to due process violations.”
In sum, the government makes several arguments as to why Judge Recarey is the “wrong person to ask questions” but fails to provide any answers regarding Covid vaccination in the country, which they should have provided to date.
It is the classic tactic to create a diversion in order to distract the narrative from the real question at hand: where are the answers to the judge’s questions?
It will be interesting to see how Uruguayans react to this embarrassment.
Will the government and Pfizer (be able to) provide the requested information, or do they have no answers and will now move further into the mudslinging game?