africa isn’t a testing lab for the coronavirus vaccine

Two high profile (and racist) French doctors, Jean-Paul Mira and Camille Locht, went on live TV last Wednesday and offered up Africa as the testing grounds for the eventual COVID-19 vaccine. “If I can be provocative,” Mira said, “shouldn’t we do this study in Africa where there are no masks, no treatment, no intensive care?”

Yes, of course, because in their anti-Black minds they equate “African” with “impoverished” and therefore expendable. so they should be first in line for their experimentation. You’d think that was the worst thing said, but he continued, “[the trials would be] a bit like we did in some studies on AIDS. We tried things on prostitutes because they are highly exposed and do not protect themselves.” Mira’s colleague Locht agreed, saying they’re taking it into serious consideration.

Yuck.

Seeing modern white colonial attitudes shouldn’t surprise us anymore, but it’s disconcerting to see them promoted during a global pandemic — one that is already disproportionately affecting Black lives.

Amid the rightful backlash against both doctors’ “proactiveness”, the Director-General of WHO, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus responded: “It was a disgrace, appalling, to hear during the 21st Century, to hear from scientists, that kind of remark. We condemn this in the strongest terms possible, but we assure you that this will not happen in Africa.”

Right on.