Page 26 - Msingi Afrika Magazine Issue 14

Wholeness

In March 2009, Pfizer and Kano Pfizer contends that there was no regulation or law in Nigeria
State officials, along with represen- requiring ethical committee approval before conducting a clini-
tatives of the children’s families,
met to confirm an out-of-court cal trial or investigative study. Therefore, there was no need to
settlement for US $75 million, with obtain what the law did not equire.
a confidentiality agreement. The From Pfizer’s Defense in Kano State Civil Case
conclusion of the trial by a settle-
ment led to compensation for some
of the families affected, but Pfizer principles concerning the use of Although the Nuremberg Code and
never admitted to wrongdoing, and human test subjects in experiments, the Declaration of Helsinki apply
maintains to this day that the trial developed after the horrific experi- in Nigeria, they are “without the
was proper and life-saving. ments conducted by doctors of the benefit of an implementing and
German Third Reich on prisoner elaborating domestic regulatory
subjects. instrument”. He concludes.
Who Makes a Good Test Subject?
“Kano was probably chosen because
of the huge population, high prev- The Helsinki Declaration of 1964 Doses of Vaccines Destroyed
alence of meningitis,” Dr. Moham- similarly requires researchers to put Many years later, the memory of the
med of the College of Medicine the health of human research sub- Pfizer Trovan drug trial remains and
at the University of Jos explained, jects first. Both international stan- for most of the affected families,
“and the people’s attitude of always dards, however, have not seemed to the COVID-19 vaccine is a reminder
accepting bad outcomes as the will prevent pharmaceutical companies of the lingering doubts over wheth-
of God, which makes it easier to cut from engaging in questionable er big pharmaceutical companies
corners.” practices in Nigeria and Africa more cast ethical concerns aside in places
widely. like Kano. Concerns about vaccine
safety may be associated with vac-
But beyond the religious and cultur-
al dynamics, he also pointed to the International legal standards are cine hesitancy.
fact that “One hardly ever hears of only effective insofar as they can be
malpractice suits in this part of the enforced, and this often depends on “I won’t advise, I won’t allow and I
country [Northern Nigeria]”. local or domestic authorities. won’t tolerate seeing my son, myself
or any of my relatives to receive
Professor Remigius N. Nwabueze the COVID-19 vaccine” – Maryam
In a study entitled “Ethics of Clin-
ical Trials in Nigeria,” Dr. Patrick I. of the University of Southhamp- maintains.
Okonta of Delta State University, ton, UK, finds that despite Nigeria’s
Abraka, Delta, Nigeria, found that involvement in biomedical research She vows to discourage anyone she
developing countries offer con- since colonial times, Nigeria does knows from taking the vaccine and
siderably attractive conditions for not have any formal framework for if said persons aren’t aware of the
companies hoping to minimize the regulating research involving human 1996 meningitis outbreak and Pfiz-
price of pharmaceutical trials. participants. er’s Trovan, “I will educate them on
that. My son is now living in agony
In his research, he identifies the Na- despite the so-called compensation”
The International Ethics of Using
Humans as Test Subjects tional Institute of Medical Research “He is neither in school nor into
At the College of Medicine, Univer- in Yaba, Lagos (NIMR) as the business. He is living a miserable
sity of Jos, Dr. Sabo Ahmed Mo- organization authorized to conduct life,” she added.
hammed told Unbias the News that medical research related to health
the 1996 trial was in contravention problems in Nigeria. Though the Maryam is not alone in her doubts.
of both local and international eth- NIMR is a major Nigerian institute Some Africans are hesitating to get
ics. “There were unethical practices concerned with human medicine COVID-19 vaccines amid concerns
against the Nuremberg Code, the and research in Nigeria, it has not about their safety. From Congo to
Helsinki Declaration and our [Nige- promulgated any formal guidelines Malawi and South Sudan, doses
ria’s] national laws on bioethics”. for the conduct of research involv- of the expired vaccines have been
ing human subjects, he argues. destroyed, a development that raises
concerns for vaccine equity and the
The Nuremberg Code is a set of

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