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Africa will not be a testing ground for COVID-19 vaccine - WHO

Africa will not be a testing ground for COVID-19 vaccine - WHO

By Naveel Krishant
07/04/2020
A health worker carries out a door-to-door testing near Durban in South Africa [image: BBC]

The head of the World Health Organization (WHO) has condemned as "racist" the comments by two French doctors who suggested a vaccine for the coronavirus could be tested in Africa.

"Africa can't and won't be a testing ground for any vaccine," said Director General Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus.

The doctors' remarks during a TV debate sparked outrage, and they were accused of treating Africans like "human guinea pigs".

One of them later issued an apology.

When asked about the doctors' suggestion during the WHO's coronavirus briefing, Dr Tedros became visibly angry, calling it a hangover from the "colonial mentality".

[Source: BBC]

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