DIAMOND RUSH AFRICA DISTRUST TRIAL

The company argued the deaths were due to meningitis, not the drug, but parents alleged they had not given informed consent. Eleven children died, and others were paralyzed.

DIAMOND RUSH AFRICA DISTRUST TRIAL

In 2009, Pfizer reached an out-of-court settlement over a controversial meningitis drug trial in Kano State in the 1990s. “That plays on people’s fears of Western colonialism and Western medicine.”īut rumors also have roots in recent trials that, on occasion, have seen African countries on the receiving end of unethical medical practices. Some fears “have roots in colonialism, oppression, and exploitation that can easily be stirred up in situations like this, especially when you see the world’s vaccine inequity – where some countries have been able to buy up a disproportionate number of vaccines,” and others are left without, says Indira Govender, a doctor and health activist in South Africa.

At the beginning of the outbreak, many WhatsApp users forwarded with dizzying speed allegations that COVID-19 was manufactured in a Chinese lab, or that radiation from 5G internet towers caused the disease. With COVID-19, new conspiracy theories have reared their heads.

How these HBCU presidents fixed their colleges’ financial futures In particular, they argue, strong buy-in from local leaders is crucial to promoting acceptance. But community health leaders say there is a window to help address concerns, offer information, and heal distrust. Hesitancy could mean a longer road to herd immunity and slower economic recovery amid a second wave. A recent Ipsos survey found that only 61% of South Africans would get a vaccine, lower than any of the other 14 countries surveyed, except for France and Russia. And the continent’s lower number of deaths, compared with many other regions, has given many Africans a false sense of immunity, doctors say.Īs recently as December, around a quarter of Africans surveyed felt vaccines will not be safe, according to the Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. So does skepticism that people’s lives here really matter to the foreign companies and countries behind most COVID-19 research – concerns rooted in a long history of inequality. In South Africa, distrust of the creaking, overburdened public health system and the government that manages it runs deep. But as campaigns finally begin to roll out across the continent, a lingering issue of distrust is coming into sharp focus. For most of the region, that challenge continues. An effective pandemic response includes addressing those doubts.įor months, many African governments have struggled to secure vaccines in a system where wealthy countries take the lion’s share, shining a spotlight on global inequalities. Vaccine hesitancy in Africa is often rooted in distrust, shaped by a long history of inequality.

Diamond rush africa distrust