A video of two French doctors discussing the possibility of testing the novel coronavirus potential vaccines on a local TV went viral online, as they suggested testing it "on Africans".

#COVID19



Dr Jean-Paul Mira:

Shouldn't we do this study in Africa, where there's no masks, treatments, reanimation? As done in AIDS studies where they used prostitutes



Dr Camille Locht:

You're right. We're thinking of a study in Africa, to use same approach with the BCG Placebos pic.twitter.com/EFGqKKM5LX — Izwe Lethu (@LandNoli) April 4, 2020

Research Director at the French National Institute of Health and Medical Research Dr. Camille Locht and Head of Intensive Care at Cochin hospital in Paris Dr. Jean-Paul Mira agreed during a live televised discussion that COVID-19 vaccines should be tested on Africans first, suggesting that "since people in African countries are not using proper protection measures against the virus such as face masks, they can be a suitable target sample for the vaccine testing."

One of the doctors went on to say that the procedure should be similar to "tests conducted to test HIV drugs on prostitutes who were at a higher risk of contracting the virus than others."

#Africa Is NOT Your ❝Playground❞ To Play In#Africans Are NOT Your ❝Genny pigs❞ To Test Your Medicines On#French doctors blasted for saying #coronavirus vaccines should be tested in #Africa pic.twitter.com/tez9vD1yZu — realSeifBitar (@BitarReal) April 4, 2020

The doctors' comments prompted strong backlash from social media commentators, who demanded an apology for the remarks. They stated that the remarks reflected a "decades-long colonialist mentality that used to degrade people from other parts of the world, especially descendants of the African continent".

They are simply disgusting souls who think of themselves as a superior race. The mentality of colonisation, imperialism & racism is still well & alive in some dark minds of the white man. — Nedal Abu-Alkhair (@NedalAlkhair) April 4, 2020

I don’t think it was the same case for Ebola... scientists and pharmaceutical companies didn’t test vaccines in Asia, Europe or America... — Jethro Decimus (@decimusjethro) April 4, 2020

Several African footballers and French footballers of African origins joined social media commentators in protest of the doctors' TV remarks. Didier Drogba, Samuel Eto'o and Demba Ba were among the first well-known people to respond.

Bienvenue en occident , la où le blanc se croit tellement supérieur que racisme et débilité deviennent banalité. TIME TO RISE ✊🏿 pic.twitter.com/R08R7K9QAw — Demba Ba (@dembabafoot) April 2, 2020

Translation: "Welcome to the West, where white people believe they are so superior that racism and debility become banal. TIME TO RISE "