VOA慢速英语2021 欧盟称阿斯利康公司疫苗跟血栓病例增加无关（在线收听）

The European Union’s drug control agency says the AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine is safe.

欧盟的药品管制机构表示，阿斯利康公司的新冠疫苗是安全的。

The European Medicines Agency (EMA) on Thursday announced its findings from an examination of medical records on millions of people who had received the drug. It began the examination following reports that a small number of people experienced blood system blockages, or clots, after receiving the vaccine. Last week, several European countries suspended use of AstraZeneca's vaccine as a result.

欧盟药管局周四宣布了对数百万接种者的病例进行检查后得出的结论。有报道称少数人接种疫苗后出现了血栓，该机构随后展开了检查。数个欧洲国家上周因此而暂停使用阿斯利康公司的疫苗。

The EMA spoke after an extraordinary meeting to discuss concerns among its member countries and others.

欧盟药管局在一次特别会议之后发表了讲话，讨论了欧盟成员国及其它国家的担忧。

Emer Cooke leads the EMA. She told reporters Thursday, “Our scientific position is that this vaccine is a safe and effective option to protect citizens against COVID-19.”

埃莫·库克是欧盟药管局的负责人。她周四对记者表示：“我们的科学立场是，这种疫苗是保护公民免受新冠肺炎侵害安全和有效的选择。”

Cooke added, “If it were me, I would be vaccinated tomorrow.”

库克还表示：“如果是我，我明天就去接种疫苗。”

However, she said the agency “cannot rule out definitively a link” between blood clots and the vaccine.

然而她表示，该机构“无法完全排除”血栓和该疫苗之间的联系。

The EMA said it looked at about 25 cases of rare blood clots out of 20 million people that received the vaccine by March 16. The agency said, “a causal link with the vaccine is not proven, but is possible,” adding that the issue should be studied further.

欧盟药管局表示，该机构检查了3月16日前接种疫苗的2000万人当中出现的25例罕见血栓病例。该机构表示，“它与疫苗之间的因果关系尚未得到证实，但是也有可能。”该机构还表示应该进一步研究。

The agency said that the number of reported blood clots was lower than expected in the general population. This led to the conclusion, the EMA reported, that “there is no increase in the overall risk of blood clots.”

该机构表示，报告的血栓病例数量低于普通人群的预期值。欧盟药管局报告称，这得出了这样的结论：“血栓的总体风险并未增加。”

Resuming vaccination programs

恢复疫苗接种程序

About 13 European nations had suspended the use of AstraZeneca vaccine after reports of possible blood clots linked to the shots.

大约有13个欧盟国家在有报道称血栓可能跟接种有关之后暂停了使用阿斯利康疫苗。

On Thursday, Italian Premier Mario Draghi welcomed the decision by the EMA. He said Italy would restart AstraZeneca vaccinations as early as Friday.

周四，意大利总理德拉吉对欧盟的决定表示欢迎。他说，意大利最早将于周五开始恢复阿斯利康疫苗的接种。

When the AstraZeneca vaccine was approved for emergency use in Britain last December, the shot was described as the “vaccine for the world.” It costs much less than vaccines from Pfizer and Moderna. It also does not require extreme cold storage, making it easier to use in countries with limited resources.

当去年12月阿斯利康疫苗在英国获准用于紧急用途时，该疫苗被称为“世界疫苗”。它的成本远低于辉瑞和莫德纳公司生产的疫苗。它也不需要极端低温冷藏，因此在资源有限的国家更容易应用。

COVAX is an international program to deploy coronavirus vaccines to people around the world. It hopes to provide at least 2 billion shots, mainly from AstraZeneca, to poor countries around the world.

新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划是一项旨在给世界各地人们接种新冠疫苗的国际项目。它希望向世界上的贫穷国家提供至少20亿剂疫苗，其中主要来自于阿斯利康公司。

Two other vaccines are approved for emergency use in Europe. One is from Pfizer-BioNTech and the other is a Moderna product. In the United States, health officials have approved vaccines from Pfizer-BioNTech, Moderna and Johnson & Johnson for emergency use.

另外还有两种疫苗在欧盟获准紧急使用。一种来自于辉瑞-生物新科技公司，另一种来自于莫德纳公司。美国卫生官员已经批准来自辉瑞-生物新科技、莫德纳以及强生公司的疫苗用于紧急用途。

AstraZeneca is planning to seek U.S. government approval in the coming months.

阿斯利康公司计划在未来几个月内寻求美国政府的批准。

Michael Head is a top researcher at Britain’s University of Southampton. He worries that people may be less willing to be injected with the AstraZeneca vaccine when the suspensions end. “This is at a time when we need to stop the virus circulating," he said, "to reduce the chances of further variants emerging.”

迈克尔·海德是英国南安普顿大学的高级研究员。他担心，当暂停令结束之后，人们可能不太愿意接种阿斯利康公司的疫苗。他说：“我们此时此刻需要阻止病毒传播，以减少出现更多病毒变种的机会。”

Speaking to reporters on Thursday, the World Health Organization’s director for Europe, Hans Kluge, said that countries should continue using the AstraZeneca vaccine.

世卫组织欧洲区域办事处主任汉斯·克鲁格周四对记者表示，各国应该继续使用阿斯利康公司的疫苗。

He added, “We need to renew confidence, if it’s lost, to restore it - especially for AstraZeneca.”

他还表示：“我们需要恢复信心，如果信心丢了，我们就要重拾信心，尤其是对阿斯利康疫苗而言。”