美国有线新闻 CNN 美国批准12岁至15岁青少年接种辉瑞新冠疫苗（在线收听）

Americans between the ages of 12 and 15 years old are now eligible for a coronavirus vaccine.

12至15岁的美国人现在有资格接种冠状病毒疫苗。

Before Monday, it was only supposed to be available for people ages 16 and up.

在周一之前，疫苗接种只适用于16岁以上人群。

Though there are three vaccines being distributed in the United States,

尽管美国有三种已上市的疫苗，

only the one made by the companies Pfizer and Biontech is available to adolescents and young teenagers

但只有辉瑞公司和德国生物新技术公司联合生产的疫苗可供青少年使用，

and none of the shots has been formally approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

而且这些疫苗均未获得美国食品与药物管理局的正式批准。

That process can take years though it might be sped up for the COVID-19 shots.

获得批准可能需要数年时间，尽管新冠肺炎疫苗的获批速度可能会加快。

The vaccines that are available have been authorized for emergency use,

现有疫苗已被授权紧急使用，

which means they've gotten special FDA clearance to be administered for the time being.

这意味着它们已获得美国食品与药物管理局的特别许可，暂时可予以使用。

The authorization for the Pfizer drug came after a clinical trial was carried out in more than 2,200 people ages 12 to 15.

在对2200多名12至15岁青少年进行临床试验后，辉瑞疫苗获得批准。

Pfizer says it showed its vaccine was highly effective and well tolerated

辉瑞公司表示，该公司生产的疫苗高度有效，而且耐受性良好，

with common side effects including pains, fatigues, headache, chills, joint pain and fever.

常见的副作用包括疼痛、疲劳、头痛、发冷、关节痛和发烧。

Those are the same ones observed by adults.

这些都是在成年人身上观察到的副作用。

Health experts say that vaccinating young people will better protect them from getting coronavirus and from spreading it to people who are more threatened by it.

卫生专家表示，为年轻人接种疫苗将更好地保护他们免受冠状病毒的感染，也不会将病毒传播给易感人群。

They estimate that the overall survival rate for COVID-19 is about 99.5 percent.

专家估计新冠肺炎的整体保护效力约为99.5%。

That's an average across all ages. Children are less likely to get seriously sick from coronavirus than older adults.

这是所有年龄段的平均值。儿童感染冠状病毒后得重病的可能性比老年人小。

The authorization for 12 to 15 year olds has gotten a mixed reaction from parents.

家长对批准12至15岁人群接种疫苗一事反应不一。

Some brought in their children for inoculations before the Centers for Disease Control formally recommended them.

有些家长在疾病控制中心正式建议之前就带着孩子来接种疫苗。

That was expected to happen on Wednesday afternoon.

预计这一消息将在周三下午公布。

Some have said they're hesitant or unwilling to get their kids the shot

一些家长表示，他们犹豫或不愿让孩子注射疫苗，

because COVID vaccines were developed faster than any other vaccines in history

因为新冠肺炎疫苗的研发速度比历史上任何其他疫苗都快，

and because they haven't been available long enough for there to be any long term studies on their effects.

而且上市时间太短，不足以对其效果进行长期研究。

The CDC says that as of early this week, 46 percent of all Americans had gotten at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.

美国疾病控制与预防中心表示，截至本周初，46%的美国人已至少接种一剂新冠肺炎疫苗。

That process has not gone as quickly in Japan where there's greater resistance to vaccines than in the U.S.

但在日本，接种进程没有美国这么快，日本对疫苗的抵制比美国更大，

and where less than three percent of the population is estimated to have had at least one dose.

估计只有不到3%的人口至少接种了一剂疫苗。