A French doctor apologised on Friday for suggesting a possible treatment for COVID-19 should be tested in Africa, after the remarks sparked an outcry on social media. Jean-Paul Mira, the head of the intensive care unit at the Cochin hospital in Paris, made the comments on Wednesday during an interview on French television channel LCI with the research director of France’s national health institute, Inserm.
The research director, Camille Locht, was discussing the BCG tuberculosis vaccine, which is being trialled in several European countries and Australia against COVID-19, the respiratory disease caused by the new coronavirus. Mira asked: “If I could be provocative, should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, treatment or intensive care, a little bit like it’s done, by the way, for certain AIDS studies or with prostitutes?
“We try things because we know that they are highly exposed and they don’t protect themselves,” he said. Camille Locht, the research director from France’s Inserm, responded: “You are right. And by the way, we are in the process of thinking in parallel about a study in Africa … That doesn’t prevent us, in parallel, from also thinking about a study in Europe and in Australia. The comments triggered outrage on social media.
“Africa isn’t a testing lab,” retired Ivory Coast soccer star, Didier Drogba, wrote on Twitter. “I would like to vividly denounce those demeaning, false and most of all deeply racist words. A Moroccan lawyers’ collective said it was going to sue Mira for racial defamation.
Two French doctors are being accused of racism after calling for coronavirus vaccines to be tested in Africa on live TV pic.twitter.com/0g2UgCMNhg
— TRT World (@trtworld) April 4, 2020
In a statement on Friday, Mira’s employer, the Paris network of hospitals, quoted Mira as saying: “I want to present all my apologies to those who were hurt, shocked and felt insulted by the remarks that I clumsily expressed on LCI this week.”
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
Locht could not be immediately reached for comment. Inserm said on Twitter that the video of the exchange was being misinterpreted, without elaborating, and noted that the vaccine is only being trialled in Europe and Australia at present
In other news – Lady Zamar continues to face backlash for abuse allegations against ex-boyfriend, Sjava
Singer and songwriter, Lady Zamar, took to social media to caution people against being rash in their responses, resulting in Twitter users attacking her for the abuse allegations levelled against ex-boyfriend, Sjava.
On Friday, 3 April 2020, Lady Zamar took to Twitter to share a series of posts cautioning social media users against being rash in their responses and assumptions. As has become the trend with the More And More singer’s posts on Twitter, users responded by attacking her for the abuse allegations against ex-boyfriend and Umqhele creator, Sjava. Read more
Source: eNCA
