COVID 19 Vaccine Trials in Africa: The Ethics of Clinical Trials
Publication Date
2020
Start Date
22-8-2020 11:35 AM
End Date
22-8-2020 12:00 PM
Moderator
Yao Yao
Description
The COVID-19 is an extremely complex pandemic. It became the greatest public health threat to the world because it has affected individuals in different countries and regions. As many of the COVID-19 vaccine trials started a few months ago, the controversial question was to know if African sites should be central to COVID-19 vaccine trial site mapping. The comments of two French doctors in early April 2020 stating that the vaccine trials should be done in Africa because of the low number of confirmed cases started the controversy. Given the long history of medical racism experienced by most African countries, these types of remarks provoked global outrage. Although testing COVID 19 vaccines in the continent is in the interest of public health, it raises many questions on the ethics of clinical trials. In this presentation, I will discuss the history of clinical trials in Africa. Then, I will present some of the root causes of this issue. Finally, I will address one way to solve this issue.
COVID 19 Vaccine Trials in Africa: The Ethics of Clinical Trials
The COVID-19 is an extremely complex pandemic. It became the greatest public health threat to the world because it has affected individuals in different countries and regions. As many of the COVID-19 vaccine trials started a few months ago, the controversial question was to know if African sites should be central to COVID-19 vaccine trial site mapping. The comments of two French doctors in early April 2020 stating that the vaccine trials should be done in Africa because of the low number of confirmed cases started the controversy. Given the long history of medical racism experienced by most African countries, these types of remarks provoked global outrage. Although testing COVID 19 vaccines in the continent is in the interest of public health, it raises many questions on the ethics of clinical trials. In this presentation, I will discuss the history of clinical trials in Africa. Then, I will present some of the root causes of this issue. Finally, I will address one way to solve this issue.