美国国家公共电台 NPR--There's no bad time to get a new COVID booster if you're eligible, CDC director says

There's no bad time to get a new COVID booster if you're eligible¹, CDC director says

Transcript²

Americans will now have access to updated COVID booster shots after the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention signed off on reformulated versions of the Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines⁴ Thursday night.

Some doses could be available as soon as Friday, with a wider rollout planned for next week. Health officials expect another surge of infections this fall and winter, and say the shots — which target the original coronavirus strain as well as the more contagious⁵ omicron variant⁶ — will help boost peoples' waning⁷ immunity⁸ and protect against serious disease and death.

What should you keep in mind if you're ready to roll up your sleeve? CDC director Dr. Rochelle Walensky spoke⁹ with Morning Edition's Steve Inskeep about the new boosters.

"Doses are rolling into pharmacies¹⁰ and other sites now, and I would say if you're eligible for your boost there is no bad time to go out and get one," Walensky says.

There are eligibility¹¹ and timing¹² considerations

Adults 18 years or older can get the Moderna booster, while the Pfizer-BioNTech version has been authorized¹³ for people 12 and up. In both cases, a person is only eligible for a booster if it has been at least two months since their last COVID vaccine³.

Some vaccine experts say that it would be better for people to wait until four months after their last COVID shot or infection for maximum efficacy, though Walensky suggests there is some gray area.

"What we've seen is that almost everybody who is eligible for a boost is far more beyond two months from their last shot," she says. "Certainly we wouldn't want somebody to get a boost too soon, and we wouldn't want you to get a boost before two months. But I would say if you're three, four, five months after your last shot, now is the time to go ahead and get it."

Safety and efficacy data look promising¹⁴

These new boosters were tested on mice rather than people, a controversial strategy aimed at saving time (it's not unprecedented¹⁵, however, as flu shots are changed each year without being routinely tested).

Looking at the data, Walensky says health authorities are confident about how well the vaccines will work and how safe they will be.

That data includes the 600 million doses of the original vaccine that have been administered across the country with what Walensky calls "an extraordinary safety record." Officials also saw similar safety results for an earlier version of this bivalent vaccine (meaning it targets two strains) that was tested in some 1,400 people.

That booster targeted the original coronavirus strain as well as the omicron BA.1 strain, as opposed to the more prevalent BA.4 and BA.5 subvariants targeted in the newly authorized version of the shot.

"So there are very subtle differences, but we have no reason to expect that this is going to have any different safety signal than either the 600 million doses we previously¹⁷ have given or these other bivalent boosts against omicron," Walensky says.

What's already clear, she adds, is that protection against the virus wanes¹⁸ over time, and that a booster will restore protection against infection, severe disease and death. She also points to lab studies that show this updated booster improves immune responses against other SARS-CoV-2 variants¹⁶ as well as similar responses to the original variant.

"So we have every reason to expect that it'll work just as well, and likely better," she says.

1 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

4 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

5 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。

6 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

7 waning   

adj.（月亮）渐亏的，逐渐减弱或变小的n.月亏v.衰落( wane的现在分词 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• Her enthusiasm for the whole idea was waning rapidly. 她对整个想法的热情迅速冷淡了下来。
• The day is waning and the road is ending. 日暮途穷。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

8 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

9 spoke   

n.（车轮的）辐条；轮辐；破坏某人的计划；阻挠某人的行动 v.讲，谈（speak的过去式）；说；演说；从某种观点来说

参考例句：

• They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
• The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。

10 pharmacies   

药店

参考例句：

• Still, 32 percent of the pharmacies filled the prescriptions. 但仍然有32%的药剂师配发了这两张药方。 来自互联网
• Chinese herbal pharmacies, and traditional massage therapists in the Vancouver telephone book. 中药店，和传统的按摩师在温哥华的电话簿里。 来自互联网

11 eligibility   

n.合格，资格

参考例句：

• What are the eligibility requirements? 病人被选参加试验的要求是什么？ 来自英汉非文学 - 生命科学 - 回顾与展望
• Eligibility for HINARI access is based on gross national income (GNI). 进入HINARI获取计划是依据国民总收入来评定的。

12 timing   

n.时间安排，时间选择

参考例句：

• The timing of the meeting is not convenient.会议的时间安排不合适。
• The timing of our statement is very opportune.我们发表声明选择的时机很恰当。

13 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

14 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

15 unprecedented   

adj.无前例的，新奇的

参考例句：

• The air crash caused an unprecedented number of deaths.这次空难的死亡人数是空前的。
• A flood of this sort is really unprecedented.这样大的洪水真是十年九不遇。

16 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

17 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

18 wanes   

v.衰落( wane的第三人称单数 )；（月）亏；变小；变暗淡

参考例句：

• The moon waxes till it becomes full, and then wanes. 月亮渐盈，直到正圆，然后消亏。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• The moon waxes and wanes every month. 月亮每个月都有圆缺。 来自《简明英汉词典》