The Independent Uganda: You get the Truth we Pay the Price
Kinshasa, DR Congo | AFP | The Democratic Republic of Congo is prepared to take part in testing of any future vaccine against the coronavirus, the head of the country’s taskforce against the pandemic said on Friday.
“We’ve been chosen to conduct these tests,” said the head of the national biological institute, Jean-Jacques Muyembe.
“The vaccine will be produced in the United States, or in Canada, or in China. We’re candidates for doing the testing here,” Muyembe told a news briefing in comments that sparked controversy in DR Congo amid charges the population was being used as guinea pigs.
Muyembe suggested that clinical trials could begin in July or August.
“At some point, COVID-19 will be uncontrollable,” the virologist said.
“The only way to control it will be a vaccine, just like Ebola. It was a vaccine that helped us end the Ebola epidemic.”
Muyembe’s comments came as two leading French doctors came under a storm of criticism after discussing on a television programme the idea of testing a vaccine for coronavirus in Africa.
Camille Locht, head of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Lille, and Jean-Paul Mira, head of intensive care at the Cochin hospital in Paris, suggested that Africa offered better conditions for testing the vaccine.
Their remarks sparked furious criticism, with the French anti-racism NGO, SOS Racisme, saying, “No, Africans aren’t guinea pigs”.
Even former international and Ivory Coast football star Didier Drogba joined in.
“It is inconceivable that we continue to accept this. Africa is not a laboratory. I strongly denounce these very serious, racist and contemptuous words,” the former Chelsea and Marseille striker wrote on his Facebook page and on Twitter.
“Help us save lives in Africa and stop the spread of the virus that is destabilising the whole world instead of seeing us as guinea pigs. It is absurd.”
The tenth Ebola epidemic in DR Congo is set to be declared over on April 12, after it killed more than 2,200 people in the east of the country since its outbreak on August 1, 2018.
More than 320,000 people were given two different experimental vaccines to stop the spread.
Why?, African countries to be used for such trials morever its between death&life.Let them be double care ful becoz they may speed up its spreading.
Africa is not alaboratory test room test you self and sell to us a proved tested drug rather than playing on our lives’whites a dieng of the deases too try your vaccines on them, why testing on we Africans? don’t we have the same blood, Ni Ubaguzi kabisa
The two doctors that suggested it should be tested first. French citizens should be also be tested first because the number of casualty iin France is more than the number of casualty in the whole African countries. And those two idiot Doctors should apologies to African countries for suggesting that. Idiots
The reason why they cannot conduct such trials in developed countries, is being their leaders donot allow that but it seems like some African leaders care very less about their own population, as long as their pockets are filled.
This does not make sense att all , i thought that educated people don’t think like that. But why can’t you even keep it as a secret? But I know that right now the world is being led by God, no more human lures . that is the reason as to why no evil acts will remain a secret like before.
U guys are taking us back to the colonial times, y is it always Africa to do the dirty work, total no of cases in Africa isn’t even quarter of cases in France, and ur suggesting bull shit , this guy muyembe is a real mango, unless ur saying the French are still ur colonial masters, this guy must have already chewed on some hefty bribes to accept such nonsense , God come and see
Why you have this people in Africa that will kill there own people for some money. Its a big shame this fool lett them do the test in there own country where you have alot of dead people from the Corona virus.
Maybe, I think these two idiot doctors thought the virus would like alot of people in Africa as it did in there countries. Shame on you. Good is on our side
It may probably be better if atleast human samples are picked from black, white, latino, etc continents for tests with close monitoring by W.H.O with representatives of a section of researhers/Doctors from those continents. This may avoid suspecion and pointing fingers in the fight against Covid-19.
always used as Guinea Pigs. half of imunisation already are placebo. some say imunisation is test for cancer drugs in case they dangerous. that is why they ask questions later.
No African country has recorded 10,000 deaths for COVID 19. They have. Let them test from themselves because they have been hit the hardest.
why not test in USA where thousands of people die every day