Obama has NOT Asked Africans to Reject COVID-19 Vaccines

A post attributed to Former US President, Barack Obama, asking Africans “to be smart, and to ensure that coronavirus vaccines do not enter African territories” has gone viral on all social media platforms. The viral statement which is accompanied by a photo where the former president is in tears reads:

Barack Obama is asking Africans not to accept the vaccines that will come from America and Europe…

Barack Obama: I’ll be an accomplice if I don’t denounce this evil act white people want to do to Africans, first of all I was born in America but I’m African blood, I’m not going to allow white people to kill Africans with their toxic vaccines, I ask Africans to be smart, and to ensure that coronavirus vaccines do not enter African territories, there is a Machiavellian plan they invent, saying we come to help Africans, or that they will come to kill you, I will let this message be shared everywhere, to awaken African minds so that the vaccines do not arrive in Africa.

A Screenshot from WhatsApp

Upon subjecting the above claim to verification, fact-checkghana.com found that it is Completely False

Explanation: Checks from all the verified social media handles of Mr. Obama show no record of such statement.

A general search on the web also show no credible media outlet has reported the said comments.

A reverse image search of the picture of Obama in tears accompanying the said remark is from January 2016 when Obama made an emotional  appeal to Americans to help curb gun violence in a speech at the  White House. There are no vaccines against coronavirus at the moment according to the WHO. Scientists say it could  take about 18 months for a vaccine to be ready  for mass use when one is discovered.

Will Vaccines be Tested in Africa?

On April 6, the WHO Director General, Dr Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, condemned as racist any suggestion that COVID-19 vaccine would be tested in Africa.

“Africa can’t and won’t be a testing ground for any vaccine,” said Director General Dr Adhanom Ghebreyesus at a media briefing.