VOA常速英语2021--英国批准牛津新冠疫苗（在线收听）

This is VOA news. Via remote, I'm Jim Bertel. A new vaccine will be rolled out in Britain with a focus on quick mass protection. Britain's health department said it was authorizing emergency use of the vaccine developed by Oxford University and AstraZeneca. AP's Karen Chammas reports. The approval and a shift in policy will speed up rollout of the vaccine in the U.K. which comes as a surge in infections threatens to swamp British hospitals. Britain's Health Secretary Matt Hancock said the vaccine brings light at the end of the tunnel. "I am now, with this approval this morning, highly confident that we can get enough vulnerable people vaccinated by the spring that we can now see a route out of this pandemic." Coronavirus vaccines have typically been given in two doses, with an initial shot followed by a booster about three weeks later. But in a change of approach, the British government said with the AstraZeneca vaccine it would prioritize giving as many people as possible a single dose, which is believed to give a large measure of protection against the virus. Karen Chammas, London.

这里是美国之音新闻。我是吉姆·伯特尔，为您带来远程报道。英国将推出一种新疫苗，该疫苗重点在于提供快速且大规模的保护。英国卫生部表示，正在批准紧急使用牛津大学和阿斯利康研发的疫苗。请听美联社记者卡伦·查马斯带来的报道。随着疫情的蔓延威胁到英国医院的发展，英国的批准和政策的转变将加速疫苗的推出。英国卫生大臣汉考克表示，这种疫苗带来了一丝曙光。“这种疫苗在今天上午得到批准后，我现在非常有信心，我们能够在春天之前为足够多的易受感染者接种疫苗，我们能够看到摆脱疫情的途径。”冠状病毒疫苗通常分两次注射，最初注射一次，大约三周后再注射一次。但英国政府另辟蹊径，英国政府表示将优先给尽可能多的人注射一剂阿斯利康疫苗，据信这将在很大程度上起到预防病毒的作用。卡伦·查马斯，伦敦报道。

Scientists say they have a lot to learn about the new variants of the coronavirus but prevention remains the key. AP's Jackie Quinn reports. Now that the variant moving through England has been detected in the U.S., people are wondering does it spread more quickly and if they might get even sicker. A former CDC official says there are nearly two dozen mutations of the coronavirus already. There are still a lot of changes to see if they might trigger more severe illness. A virus expert at the University of Cambridge says the variant there could be two times more infectious than the earlier strain and that is causing concern. While it's not uncommon for viruses to mutate, experts are concerned if the mutations change the proteins on the virus surface, it could make immune from antibody's in drugs. I'm Jackie Quinn. This is VOA news.

科学家们表示，关于新冠病毒的新变种，他们还有很多要了解，但预防仍是关键。请听美联社记者杰基·奎恩带来的报道。现在，美国已经发现了这种在英国传播的变异病毒，人们想知道它是否传播得更快，是否会引发更严重的疾病。一位疾病预防控制中心的前官员称，冠状病毒已经出现近二十种突变。还要观察这些突变病毒的很多变化，要看它们是否会引发更严重的疾病。剑桥大学的一位病毒专家说，英国变异病毒的传染性可能是之前的病毒的两倍，这引起了人们的关注。虽然病毒变异并不罕见，但专家们担心，如果变异改变了病毒表面的蛋白质，则可能会使病毒免疫药物中的抗体。我是杰基·奎恩这里是美国之音新闻。