Page 36 Jean Paul Mira and Camille Locht, two French Doctors, have sparked outrage, after they were caught on television discussing “Africa, as best destination to conduct tests for the Covid-19 vaccine”.
In a viral video clip shared on the social media on Thursday, the two Medical Experts cited the use of prostitutes in Africa, to carry out tests for vaccines for the Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome, AIDS, as instance.
Mira, the Head of the Resuscitation Department at Cochin Hospital, also pointed out that the continent should be considered, because of its perceived toughness to disease outbreaks.
“If I can be provocative, should we not do this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatment, no resuscitation, a bit like it has been done in some studies in AIDS, where among prostitutes; we try things, because they are exposed, and they do not protect themselves, what do you think?”, he asked.
Corroborating with him, Locht, a Research Director at Inserm, said that a similar approach could be adopted as ongoing search for the Covid-19 vaccine intensifies across the globe.
“So you are right […] we are thinking in parallel to a study in Africa precisely, to make this same type of approach w/BCG [vaccine] placebo; I think there is a call for tenders that was released, or that will be released, and I think we will indeed seriously think about that too”, he said.
Apparently cheesed off by their discussion, Rim-Sarah Alouane, a Ph.D Student and French Researcher, took to Twitter, to describe the video as “horrific”.
This is horrific. Two French Doctors on live television, are discussing how a potential new treatment against #Covid19 should be first tested in Africa, “where there are no masks, no treatment, no reanimation”, “the same way experimental treatment for AIDS was done on prostitutes”.
The Human Rights Researcher, also said that it is unfortunate that “France still thinks Africa should be seen as subjects for experimentation in 2020”.
“It is 2020 in France, and we still see people from Africa as subjects for experimentation. This is what normalised racism looks like”, she added.
