This text aims to add to the debate on technology, politics, communication, and scientific information related to the COVID-19 pandemic in Brazil. The chosen approach is the critique of the colonial perspective on knowledge production and communication. Based on literature review on the subject, and journalistic and social media clippings, we come to the conclusion that there was a dispute of truths about the pandemic. On the one hand it exposed the importance of scientific communication, the media and digital networks. On the other hand, it exposed the trivialization of the pandemic and the disqualification of knowledge, based on the Brazilian Federal Government's stance, partly linked to imported and vested interests' views on the subject. The article addresses the relationship between information and communication by analyzing the current state of affairs, and points out to a public communication crisis tensioned by national and transnational private interests. Finally, it introduces the Brazilian Unified Health System (SUS) as an example of locally developed health information and communication system