French Doctor Sparks Outrage with Proposal to Test COVID-19 Vaccine in Africa

"If I can be provocative, shouldn’t we do this study in Africa, where there are no masks, no treatments, no resuscitation? A bit like it’s done for some AIDS studies. With prostitutes, we try things because we know they are highly exposed and they don’t protect themselves," suggests Jean-Paul Mira.

Present on the same set, Camille Locht, research director at INSERM, embraces his colleague’s idea. "You’re right, we’re actually thinking about a parallel study in Africa," he adds.

This LCI sequence is already provoking many reactions. French rapper of Cameroonian origin Dosseh, director Amandine Gay, Rokhaya Diallo, Yassine Bellatar Olivier Dacourt or Christine Kelly and many other personalities have expressed outrage. For Amandine Gay, this intervention is "racist", "putophobic" and "serophobic". She also invites to refer the matter to the CSA.

"Africa could be even more exposed to severe forms, as there will be few masks and little confinement due to the social structure. It then seemed interesting to me that in addition to France and Australia, an African country could participate in this study that I had never heard of before the show," Jean-Paul Mira explained to HuffPost.

"As an example, I cited a study done to protect prostitutes in South Africa, because a large percentage of clients are HIV-positive, and therefore highly exposed [...] Clinical trials are conducted everywhere, but to a lesser extent in Africa," he added.