The director general of the World Health Organization has denounced as “racist” the remarks of two French doctors who suggested a potential vaccine for be tested in Africa.

During the organization’s coronavirus briefing on Monday, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said he was “appalled” by the comments from the scientists at a time when there was need for global “solidarity” to defeat the march of the pandemic. The comments, made during a discussion on French television last week, were centered on the launch of trials in Europe and Australia to see if a tuberculosis vaccine could be used to treat the virus.

“If I can be provocative, shouldn’t we be doing this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatments, no intensive care?” Jean-Paul Mira, head of intensive care at Cochin hospital in Paris, said. “A bit like as it is done elsewhere for some studies on Aids. In prostitutes, we try things because we know that they are highly exposed and that they do not protect themselves.”

Camille Locht, research director at France’s national health institute, Inserm, agreed, saying: “You are right. We are in the process of thinking about a study in parallel in Africa.”

On Monday, Mr. Tedros called those comments a “disgrace” and condemned them “in the strongest terms possible.”

“Africa cannot and will not be a testing ground for any vaccine,” he said. “We will follow all the rules to test any vaccine or therapeutics all over the world using exactly the same rule.”

“The hangover from colonial mentality has to stop,” he said.

A health official from the Democratic Republic of Congo last week stirred controversy after saying the country would participate in any future vaccine tests.