Key Points
In early April 2020, just as the Covid-19 pandemic was spreading across the world, two French doctors suggested on live television that scientists test the tuberculosis vaccine on Africans to see if it might work against Covid-19...
Although the reasons for vaccine hesitancy in parts of Africa are complex, and in some cases rooted in a history of unethical medical research in the region, there is growing evidence that misinformation played an important role in people's decisions to get the immunisation or not...
"I have never dissuaded any Africans, nor any other person in the world from taking Covid-19 vaccines," Locht told the BBC, adding that studies were underway in some Western countries to see if the tuberculosis vaccine could be effective against Covid-19..
Among the myriad reasons for vaccine hesitancy in the developing world, many Africans are wary due to the history of unethical medical testing by Western researchers on the continent, the legacy of whichdiminishes trust in Western healthcare to this day...
This history of Western medical experimentation on Africans is part of the reason why the French doctors' statements were especially offensive in Morocco, says Mourad Elajouti, head of the Moroccan Lawyer's Club..
