DR Congo says it is ready to test coronavirus vaccine

In the Democratic Republic of the Congo, they expressed their readiness to participate in the testing of the coronavirus vaccine. This is reported by Daily Monitor Uganda with reference to the statement of the head of the working group on the fight against the pandemic in DR Congo. We were chosen to carry out these tests, said the head of the national biological institute Jean-Jacques Muyembe. The vaccine will be produced in the United States, Canada, or China. We are candidates for local trials, Muyembe said at a briefing. Muyembe suggested that clinical trials could begin in July or August. At some point, the COVID-19 will become unmanageable, said the virologist. The only way to fight it will be a vaccine, just like Ebola. It was the vaccine that helped us put an end to the Ebola epidemic, he added. Reporters said his comments sparked outrage from DR Congo residents who claimed they would be used as guinea pigs. In addition, Muyembe's comments came after two leading French doctors came under heated criticism after discussing in a television programme the idea of testing a coronavirus vaccine in Africa. Kamil Loht, head of research at the National Institute of Health and Medical Research (INSERM) in Lille, and Jean-Paul Mira, head of the intensive care unit at Cochin Hospital in Paris, suggested Africa presented the best conditions for testing the vaccine. Their comments drew fierce criticism from SOS Racisme, a French non-governmental organization against racism, which said: No, Africans are not guinea pigs. The protest was joined by the famous football player from Côte d 'Ivoire Didier Drogba. It is impossible to imagine that we continue to accept this. Africa not laboratory. I strongly condemn these very serious, racist and despicable words, the former Chelsea and Marcel striker wrote on his Facebook and Twitter pages. Help us save lives in Africa and stop the spread of a virus that destabilizes the world, instead of seeing us as guinea pigs. It's absurd, he added.