Africans Are Not Guinea Pigs

BY Njai Ka Wambui

Nairobi, Kenya Racism has had its root from time since immemorial when African were sold as slaves. They we’re not seen human but rather as objects of misuse and experimentation.  In the modern world where science has had its fair share of explaining the phenomenon behind the skin color we’d expect that we are in the age of enlightenment and people are not discriminated for their skin color.

Camille Latch a researcher director at France Nation of health Institute and Jean Paul Mira head of Intensive care unit at Cochin hospital Paris created a global buzz online when they said that a possible Corona Virus Diseases (COVID-19) vaccine should be tested in Africa.

“It may be provocative. Should we not do this study in Africa where there are no masks, no treatment or intensive care, a little bit like it’s been done for certain AIDS studies, where among prostitutes, we try things, because we know that they are highly exposed and don’t protect themselves?” said Jean Paul.  In Camille response he said that they were considering the same approach in Africa affirming that Jean was right.

In Oxford University, they have already enrolled the trials for covid-19 vaccine, two of the first people already being injected. This trial being pioneered by the first batch of more than 800 volunteers being used for the study. Half of this people getting the coronavirus vaccine while the other gets a control vaccine which protects against meningitis but not coronavirus.  Sarah Gilbert a professor of vaccinology at Jenner Institute noting that they of course have to try the vaccine on people. “Of course we have to test it and get the data from humans. We have to demonstrate that it actually works and stops people from getting infected with coronavirus before using the vaccine on wider population,” she said. The Oxford Group is not exempting trials in Africa too for also they are working closely with researchers in Kenya for a possible trial of the vaccine. Noting that cases of transmission cases have grown from a lower base.

Have there been other times in history where incidences happened as suggested by the scientists?  Yes! In the books of history the first man to be injected by Plutonium was a black truck driver in 1945 after he had a bone crushing accident at Ebb Cade. Medics used him to see the effects of nuclear bomb. An incident that was highly condemned.

In yet another incident African America they were thrown into burning hot pits and poured cold water on in an effort to find a cure for sun stroke typhoid and pneumonia. This explaining the sheer mistreatment and lack of humanity touch to fellow beings by ‘superior race’

This among others has put the black race at frontline of experimentation as guinea pigs. The leaders in the African nations need to stand up and defend their own and assure them that nothing like experiments will be done on them.

In the recent scenarios we’ve seen videos have gone viral of Africans being mistreatment in Wuhan China, thrown out of their houses and forced to mandatory quarantine and tests. What is worst is that the china republic has termed as just malicious allegations. Which other word could be better for this rather than racism?

Science has proven that we are all the same whether black, Caucasian, pink or white beneath the melanin we are the same. What other people have achieved Africans have achieved too. For instance, Arthur Zang a Cameroonian engineer, developed Africa’s first handheld medical computer tablet that help diagnose people with heart disease, recycling plastic waste in Africa among many other invention happening in Africa save for the past ones.

Africa is haven of great invention and tranquility of peace. Let the world know that we are all equal to them despite the difference in skin colour. We are not guinea pigs for experimentation. Africans are human beings and one day they will be the answer to the problems facing the world.