美国国家公共电台 NPR Get Your Flu Shot Now, Doctors Advise, Especially If You're Pregnant

 

NOEL KING, HOST:

All right, it's October, and that means it is flu season. Federal health officials are urging, like they do every year, that we all get the flu vaccine¹ as soon as possible. Here's NPR's Patti Neighmond.

PATTI NEIGHMOND, BYLINE²: Make no mistake - complications from the flu are scary.

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: Pneumonia³, having to be hospitalized and dying.

NEIGHMOND: Dr. William Schaffner is an infectious disease specialist at Vanderbilt University Medical Center in Nashville. He says, this time of year, let's all get vaccinated⁴.

SCHAFFNER: Anyone and everyone six months and older in the United States should get vaccinated each and every year.

NEIGHMOND: But there are certain groups who especially need it because they're more susceptible⁵ to complications from the flu - for example, the elderly, pregnant women and people with chronic⁶ diseases. Their vaccination⁷ rates aren't nearly as high as federal officials would like - people like JoJo O'Neal, a music show host in Orlando, Fla. She was diagnosed with asthma⁸ in 2004 at age 40. But for years, she didn't get the flu vaccine.

JOJO O'NEAL: I skated along for a lot of years. And then finally, in 2018, boom - it hit me, and it hit me hard.

NEIGHMOND: She was out of work for nearly two weeks.

O'NEAL: I could barely move. My head was aching. My entire body was aching. I spent a lot of time just sitting on my couch just feeling miserable⁹.

NEIGHMOND: So this year, O'Neal's not taking any chances.

UNIDENTIFIED MEDICAL PROFESSIONAL: Would you like your flu vaccine on the left or the right arm?

O'NEAL: Let's see. I guess the right arm will be OK.

NEIGHMOND: She stopped by her local pharmacy¹⁰ after work.

O'NEAL: And it won't hurt a bit (laughter.)

NEIGHMOND: O'Neal's making the right decision, says Dr. MeiLan Han, spokesperson for the American Lung Association. She says anyone with any type of lung condition really needs the vaccine.

MEILAN HAN: Unfortunately, in patients that have chronic lung conditions, when they contract the flu, the virus does go to the lung. And it can make a situation where it's already hard to breathe even harder.

NEIGHMOND: In fact, people with any kind of chronic health condition, like cancer or diabetes¹¹, need protection against the flu, says Han, because their immune systems are often impaired¹².

HAN: Which means that the inflammation, the infection may become more severe because of the body's impaired ability to fight it. That places this group of individuals at increased risk.

NEIGHMOND: Han says 92% of people hospitalized due to the flu had at least one underlying¹³ chronic health condition, but only about a third of them get vaccinated. Pregnant women are also more prone¹⁴ to flu complications, yet only about half get vaccinated. Some women worry the vaccine isn't safe for them or their babies.

ALICIA FRY: I think some of the fears about safety are certainly understandable, but they're misinformed.

NEIGHMOND: Dr. Alicia Fry is a medical epidemiologist with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. She says the evidence is clear - the vaccine is extremely safe. She points to a recent study showing it reduces the risk of hospitalization for flu for pregnant women by 40%. As for worries the vaccine might not be safe for the baby, Fry says the exact opposite is true. Antibodies from the vaccine that fight the flu virus cross the placenta and can protect the baby in the first months of life.

FRY: In the first three months of life, it can prevent 70% of illness associated with influenza¹⁵ or flu viruses in the baby. So it's a double protection - mom is protected, and the baby's protected.

NEIGHMOND: Now, the flu vaccine won't protect against all strains of the virus, but Schaffner says it's still worth getting. And if you do get the flu, it will be less severe, and you'll be less likely to develop complications.

Patti Neighmond, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF YMORI AND PUEBLO VISTA'S "BETTER THINGS")

1 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。

2 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

3 pneumonia   

n.肺炎

参考例句：

• Cage was struck with pneumonia in her youth.凯奇年轻时得过肺炎。
• Pneumonia carried him off last week.肺炎上星期夺去了他的生命。

4 vaccinated   

[医]已接种的，种痘的，接种过疫菌的

参考例句：

• I was vaccinated against tetanus. 我接种了破伤风疫苗。
• Were you vaccinated against smallpox as a child? 你小时候打过天花疫苗吗？

5 susceptible   

adj.过敏的，敏感的；易动感情的，易受感动的

参考例句：

• Children are more susceptible than adults.孩子比成人易受感动。
• We are all susceptible to advertising.我们都易受广告的影响。

6 chronic   

adj.(疾病)长期未愈的，慢性的；极坏的

参考例句：

• Famine differs from chronic malnutrition.饥荒不同于慢性营养不良。
• Chronic poisoning may lead to death from inanition.慢性中毒也可能由虚弱导致死亡。

7 vaccination   

n.接种疫苗，种痘

参考例句：

• Vaccination is a preventive against smallpox.种痘是预防天花的方法。
• Doctors suggest getting a tetanus vaccination every ten years.医生建议每十年注射一次破伤风疫苗。

8 asthma   

n.气喘病，哮喘病

参考例句：

• I think he's having an asthma attack.我想他现在是哮喘病发作了。
• Its presence in allergic asthma is well known.它在过敏性气喘中的存在是大家很熟悉的。

9 miserable   

adj.悲惨的，痛苦的；可怜的，糟糕的

参考例句：

• It was miserable of you to make fun of him.你取笑他，这是可耻的。
• Her past life was miserable.她过去的生活很苦。

10 pharmacy   

n.药房，药剂学，制药业，配药业，一批备用药品

参考例句：

• She works at the pharmacy.她在药房工作。
• Modern pharmacy has solved the problem of sleeplessness.现代制药学已经解决了失眠问题。

11 diabetes   

n.糖尿病

参考例句：

• In case of diabetes, physicians advise against the use of sugar.对于糖尿病患者，医生告诫他们不要吃糖。
• Diabetes is caused by a fault in the insulin production of the body.糖尿病是由体內胰岛素分泌失调引起的。

12 impaired   

adj.受损的；出毛病的；有（身体或智力）缺陷的v.损害，削弱( impair的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Much reading has impaired his vision. 大量读书损害了他的视力。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
• His hearing is somewhat impaired. 他的听觉已受到一定程度的损害。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》

13 underlying   

adj.在下面的，含蓄的，潜在的

参考例句：

• The underlying theme of the novel is very serious.小说隐含的主题是十分严肃的。
• This word has its underlying meaning.这个单词有它潜在的含义。

14 prone   

adj.(to)易于…的，很可能…的；俯卧的

参考例句：

• Some people are prone to jump to hasty conclusions.有些人往往作出轻率的结论。
• He is prone to lose his temper when people disagree with him.人家一不同意他的意见,他就发脾气。

15 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。