VOA慢速英语2021 新冠肺炎突破性感染病例引发担忧

Reports of COVID-19 infection among fully¹ vaccinated² people are increasing. Olympic athletes, lawmakers and heads of state are among the vaccinated who have tested positive for the virus.

完全接种过疫苗的人群当中感染新冠肺炎的报告开始增长。接种疫苗后病毒检测呈阳性的人有奥运会运动员、议员和国家元首。

Such infections are called "breakthroughs." They appear to be quite rare and usually cause little, if any, sickness.

这类感染被称为突破性感染。它们似乎非常罕见，通常很少会致病。

These breakthroughs are causing fear that the vaccines⁴ are not working.

这类突破性感染开始引发人们对疫苗不起作用的担忧。

But most experts disagree.

但是大多数专家并不认同。

Dr. Anthony Fauci is the top infectious⁵ disease official in the United States. He said infections among a very small number of vaccinated people do not mean the treatment is "failing." He said the vaccines are working well even against the Delta⁶ variant⁷. It is now the leading cause of new infections worldwide.

安东尼·福奇博士是美国最高级别的传染病官员。他表示，极少数接种过疫苗的人士感染并不意味着疫苗失效。他表示，即使是针对德尔塔变种，疫苗也能很好地发挥作用。德尔塔变种目前是全球新增感染的主要原因。

The main reason most experts consider the vaccines successful is that very few breakthrough cases result in hospital treatment or death. Most do not cause any sign of sickness at all.

大多数专家认为疫苗成功的主要原因是，很少有突破性病例导致住院治疗或死亡。大多数根本不会引起任何生病迹象。

People who are vaccinated but still get sick generally have mild symptoms for a couple of days before the body starts fighting the virus.

接种疫苗但是仍然致病的人士通常会在身体开始对抗病毒之前的几天内出现轻微症状。

Only about 5,000 out of nearly 160 million vaccinated people have either died or been hospitalized in the U.S. and also tested positive for COVID-19.

在美国近1.6亿接种疫苗的人里面只有大约5000人死亡或住院，并且新冠肺炎检测呈阳性。

Medical experts are following the breakthrough cases. U.S. health agencies are considering whether vaccinated people should get an extra vaccine³ treatment called a "booster."

医学专家正在追踪突破性感染病例。美国卫生机构正在考虑接种过疫苗的人员是否应该额外补种一剂“加强针”。

People worry when they hear news like that which came from British Prime Minister Boris Johnson. He was very sick with COVID-19 last year and is fully vaccinated now. However, he went into quarantine this week after being around a person who tested positive.

人们在听到类似英国首相鲍里斯·约翰逊传出的消息时会感到担忧。去年约翰逊感染了新冠肺炎并且病得很重，并且目前他已经完全接种过疫苗。然而，本周他在接触一位检测呈阳性的人士后进入隔离状态。

But health officials in the U.S. want to be sure people are not overreacting to the breakthrough cases. That is because many people say they do not want to get the shots. The doctors worry those people will think getting the shot is not worth it if some people still get sick.

但是美国卫生官员希望确保人们不会对突破性病例反应过度。那是因为很多人表示他们不想接种疫苗。医生担心如果有人仍然感染，这些人会认为不值得接种疫苗。

Dr. William Schaffner is an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University. He said that is the wrong idea. People need to know the vaccines are doing their job.

威廉·沙夫纳博士是范德比尔特大学的传染病专家。他说那是错误的想法。人们得知道，疫苗正在发挥作用。

"The vaccines were developed to keep us out of those terrible institutions we call hospitals," he said. "We have to keep coming back to that."

他说：“疫苗的开发是为了让我们远离那些被称为医院的可怕机构。我们必须回到这一点上来。”

1 fully   

adv.完全地，全部地，彻底地；充分地

参考例句：

• The doctor asked me to breathe in,then to breathe out fully.医生让我先吸气，然后全部呼出。
• They soon became fully integrated into the local community.他们很快就完全融入了当地人的圈子。

2 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？

3 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。

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 infectious   

adj.传染的，有传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。
• What an infectious laugh she has!她的笑声多么具有感染力啊！

6 delta   

n.（流的）角洲

参考例句：

• He has been to the delta of the Nile.他曾去过尼罗河三角洲。
• The Nile divides at its mouth and forms a delta.尼罗河在河口分岔，形成了一个三角洲。

7 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。