The head of the WHO condemned on Monday the "racist words" of researchers who recently referred to Africa as "a testing ground" to test a potential vaccine against Covid-19, denouncing "the legacy of a colonial mentality "
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"These kinds of racist comments do nothing to advance. They go against the spirit of solidarity. Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine," said Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, former head of diplomacy. Ethiopian, during a virtual press conference from Geneva. "The legacy of the colonial mentality must end," he added, in response to a question from a Nigerian journalist.
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus did not name the scientists involved, but a heated controversy erupted in France and in Africa, in particular after an exchange between a researcher from the French Institute for Medical Research (Inserm) and a head of service. a Paris hospital on April 1 on the LCI channel.
"Ashamed and horrifying"
In this sequence, Camille Locht, research director at Inserm in Lille, was asked about research carried out around the BCG vaccine against Covid-19. Invited on stage, Jean-Paul Mira, head of the intensive care and intensive care unit at Cochin hospital, asked him: "If I can be provocative, shouldn't this study be done in Africa, where it there are no masks, no treatment, no resuscitation, a bit like it is done elsewhere on some studies with AIDS, or in prostitutes: we try things because we know they are highly exposed. What do you think? "
The researcher responds: "You are right, moreover. We are thinking in parallel to a study in Africa with the same type of approach, that does not prevent us from thinking in parallel to a study in Europe and Australia ". These remarks, for which the two accused have since apologized, have been condemned by associations and the French Ministry of Foreign Affairs declared that they "did not reflect the position of the French authorities".
Source: L'expresse