WHO lashes out on French scientists for racial remark

( 3 minutes read)  

    The World Health Organization (WHO) has described as “racist” and a hangover from the “colonial mentality,”  the racial statements made by two  French scientists on the trail of vaccines and medicines for Covid-19.

The WHO chief said that rules to test any vaccine or therapeutics all over the world are the same whether it is in Europe, Africa or wherever.

World Health Organization (WHO) has described as “racist” and a hangover from the “colonial mentality,” the racial statements made by two  French scientists on the trail of vaccines and medicines for Covid-19.

WHO’S director general Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus was reacting to the comments made by two French scientists that a vaccine for the new coronavirus should first be tested in Africa. While briefing the media he said that all accepted protocols will be followed in any vaccine administration. That is true for all countries, thereby alluding that the comments of the group of French scientists was uncalled for and stressed that Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine, Tedros said, who is a citizen of Ethiopia and the served his home country as a cabinet minister, before being elected as the WHO chief.

Condemning the racist comments by the French scientists, WHO chief said that rules to test any vaccine or therapeutics all over the world are the same whether it is in Europe, Africa or wherever. This type of statements is borne out of colonial hangover and racial prejudices, which should be condemned in the harshest terms. He assured that this would not happen in Africa or elsewhere in the world and the testing would be done as per protocol arrived after considerable consultations.

The controversy erupted when professors Jean-Paul Mira of Cochin Hospital in Paris and Camille Locht of INSERM, France’s national medical research centre, debating possible COVID-19 cures on a French television channel. The tenor of the discussion was apparently had racist undertones and drew criticism in social media.

Importantly, there was a parallel situation when a South African daily  wrongly  quoted Bill Gates allegedly making a racist comment about the testing of the possible medicine for Covid-19, which was later withdrawn by the newspaper with an apology for wrongly quoting Bill Gates,  one of the world’s most wealthiest persons, who made deep imprints in the IT and philanthropy.