Two French doctors have suggested that the first medical trials for a COVID-19 vaccine, that they be used on Africans first. According to BBC, on April 1, 2020, a French TV channel LCI hosted Dr Jean-Paul Mira and Dr Camille Locht.
Dr Mira, from Cochin hospital in Paris, proposed that a medical trial for a Covid-19 vaccine should be carried out in Africa as it had been done in studies relating to AIDS.
“If I can be provocative, shouldn’t we be doing this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatments, and no resuscitation? A bit like it is done elsewhere for some studies on AIDS. In prostitutes, we try things because we know that they are highly exposed and that they do not protect themselves,” Dr Mira said
Dr Camille Locht, from the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research (Inserm), agreed with Dr Mira, saying; “You are right, we are in the thinking of a parallel study in Africa to use this same approach with BCG placebos.”
Bacille Calmette Guerin (BCG) is an effective immunization vaccine against tuberculosis.
The proposal has been labelled ‘racist’ and two African football legends Didier Drogba and Samuel Eto’o have condemned their comments. Eto’o called the doctors “assassins.”
Didier Drodga said that the suggestion was taking “African people as human guinea pigs,” adding in another tweet that “Africa isn’t a testing lab.”