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Twitter outraged after French doctors brainstorm virus vaccine trials in Africa
The video prompted the Twitter trend #AfricansAreNotLabRats, but the DRC has since agreed for future coronavirus vaccine testing to take place in the region.
Two staff members of the Congolese Ministry of Health pack their equipment after performing a COVID-19 test at a private residence in Goma, northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, on March 31, 2020 (AFP Photo/ALEXIS HUGUET)
Two French medical professionals have been slammed by social media users for discussing testing Covid-19 vaccines in Africa live on television.
French TV channel LCI broadcast a discussion between doctors Jean-Paul Mira and Camille Locht, Business Insider reported.
In the segment, which has since gone viral, the two doctors engage in a back-and-forth discussion about whether to do the study in Africa, “where there are no masks, no treatment, no reanimation,” according to Mira.
Locht responds by agreeing with Mira, saying that talks of a “parallel study” taking place with “BCG Placebos”, and that a request for a proposal to be put together has been received, but may not have formally been released yet.
The video prompted the Twitter trend #AfricansAreNotLabRats on Saturday, in which Twitter users question why two doctors in Europe not look at testing vaccines on their own populations, which have experienced a far higher death toll during the Covid-19 pandemic than Africa.
https://twitter.com/AsiwajuLerry/status/1246383706178310144
Italy,france and now USA and UK have more than 1k deaths per day yet they here yapping about testing vaccines on Africans.this bunch of suckers and racists should back off africa.we are africans and africa is our business.#AfricansAreNotLabRats pic.twitter.com/gGKMW925P6
— Gh Information (@GhInformation) April 4, 2020
Others called the doctors’ proposal racist, denouncing their “provocative” discussion.
It's funny how racism still exists after how many centuries🤷♀️ #AfricansAreNotLabRats we are not lab rats in Africa🤦♀️ smh.
— Mercy Eke (@real_mercyeke) April 4, 2020
Slavery and racism is still alive and kicking just that it has evolved.
Remember to Wash your hands and stay at home. Be Safe#AfricansAreNotLabRats #UkweliUsemwe pic.twitter.com/5MtwrKeJw9— KRAZY EMOJI 🕗 (@krazyemoji) April 4, 2020
The trend also grabbed the attention of former Ivorian Chelsea striker Didier Drogba, who said he “vividly denounce[d] those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racists words.”
It is totally inconceivable we keep on cautioning this.
Africa isn’t a testing lab.
I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racists words.Helps us save Africa with the current ongoing Covid 19 and flatten the curve. pic.twitter.com/41GIpXaIYv
— Didier Drogba (@didierdrogba) April 2, 2020
On Friday, head of the Democratic Republic of Congo national biological institute Jean-Jacques Muyembe is prepared to take part in testing of any future vaccine against the coronavirus, AFP reported.
“The vaccine will be produced in the United States, or in Canada, or in China. We’re candidates for doing the testing here,” Muyembe told a news briefing in comments that sparked controversy in DR Congo amid charges the population was being used as guinea pigs.
(Compiled by Nica Richards)
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