美国国家公共电台 NPR It Looked As Though Millions Of Babies Would Miss Out On A Lifesaving Vaccine

 

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Two million, that is the number of babies who were at risk because the pharmaceutical¹ company Merck stopped providing a lifesaving vaccine² to several West African countries. At the same time, Merck was going to start selling the vaccine at a higher price to China. NPR broke that story last fall. And now we have good news to report. Those babies will still get the vaccine. As NPR's Michaeleen Doucleff reports, other companies are now stepping in.

MICHAELEEN DOUCLEFF, BYLINE³: The vaccine is for a disease called rotavirus, which infects basically every child on the planet.

MATHURAM SANTOSHAM: Every child, whether you live in the U.S. or you live in a developing country, is infected with this disease.

DOUCLEFF: That's Dr. Mathuram Santosham, a Johns Hopkins University pediatrician and an expert on rotavirus. He says the disease causes very severe diarrhea. Here in the U.S., children can easily get treatment at a hospital. But in poor countries without good health care systems, rotavirus can be deadly.

SANTOSHAM: It can be a very severe disease. Like, I've seen kids die right in front of my eyes.

DOUCLEFF: Santosham says rotavirus still kills about 200,000 children and babies each year because families in poor countries can't afford the vaccine. Here in the U.S., it costs about $200 a course. So back in 2012, the two companies that manufacture the vaccine, Merck and GlaxoSmithKline, agreed to drastically reduce the price for low-income countries to about $10 a course. Merck would supply four countries in West Africa, and GlaxoSmithKline would supply 42 countries. Santosham says this was great news.

SANTOSHAM: Kids should not be denied a vaccine just because they belong to a poor country.

DOUCLEFF: Merck stuck to that agreement for six years. Then, last year, the company announced it was ending the agreement. At the same time, Merck started selling the vaccine to China at a much higher price. Deborah Atherly is at the nonprofit PATH, which helps develop vaccines⁴ for poorer countries. She says the global health community was alarmed.

DEBORAH ATHERLY: You have a major manufacturer of a vaccine announcing that they're going to exit from the market, and I think it created a bit of a panic for countries that were accustomed to having this vaccine.

DOUCLEFF: It also meant that more than 2 million babies in Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast, Mali and Sao Tome and Principe would go without the vaccine. That was November 2018. At the time, Merck told NPR in an email that the reason for the pullout was supply constraints⁵. The company also expressed, quote, "deepest regret to all the parties involved." Soon after NPR reported that story, other vaccine manufacturers stepped up to fill in the gap.

GlaxoSmithKline is now supplying one country with the vaccine. And Atherly says two Indian companies, Bharat Biotech and Serum⁶ Institute of India, will supply the other countries. And Atherly says no child will miss out on immunization because of Merck's termination of the agreement.

ATHERLY: We do not anticipate that any countries will have a gap in vaccinating⁷ their children.

DOUCLEFF: And so you think of this as a pretty big success story.

ATHERLY: It is. We deal with tons of challenges in global health. And this is one where the global health community rallying around with the countries has really created success.

DOUCLEFF: A success that means millions of babies will now be protected against a deadly disease. Michaeleen Doucleff, NPR News.

1 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

2 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。

3 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。

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 constraints   

强制( constraint的名词复数 )； 限制； 约束

参考例句：

• Data and constraints can easily be changed to test theories. 信息库中的数据和限制条件可以轻易地改变以检验假设。 来自英汉非文学 - 科学史
• What are the constraints that each of these imply for any design? 这每种产品的要求和约束对于设计意味着什么？ 来自About Face 3交互设计精髓

6 serum   

n.浆液，血清，乳浆

参考例句：

• The serum is available to the general public.一般公众均可获得血清。
• Untreated serum contains a set of 11 proteins called complement.未经处理的血清含有一组蛋白质，共11种，称为补体。

7 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。