One of the French doctors, Jean-Paul Mira, who suggested that the potential COVID-19 treatment be brought to Africa for testing, sparking an outrage on social media has apologized for his remark.

Mira, who is the intensive care unit (ICU) head at the Cochin hospital in Paris, had made the remark during an interview on French television channel LCI.
“Should we not do this study in Africa, where there are no masks, treatment or ICU, a little bit like it’s done, by the way, for certain AIDS studies or with prostitutes? We try things because we know that they are highly exposed and they don’t protect themselves,” Mira had said.

To which Camille Locht, a research director with Inserm, France’s national health institute who had been on TV with Mira to discuss the ongoing tests for BCG tuberculosis vaccine as a potential COVID-19 cure said, “You are right. We are in the process of thinking in parallel about a study in Africa. That doesn’t prevent us from also thinking about a study in Europe and in Australia.”

The Paris network of hospitals, Mira’s employers, has now released a statement reported to be from the controversial ICU head containing his apology for the inciting comment.
“I want to present all my apologies to those who were hurt, shocked and felt insulted by the remarks that I clumsily expressed on LCI this week,” the apology read in part.