VOA常速英语2020--阿斯利康新冠疫苗引起脊髓炎症状

Pharmaceutical¹ firm Astrazeneca announced the pause of the trial Wednesday, after one of the British participants fell ill reportedly with transverse myelitis. Inflammation of the spinal² cord, the participant is expected to recover. The coronavirus vaccine³ developed by Astrazeneca and oxford⁴ university, is seen as one of the most promising⁵ of dozens under development around the world. After successful early stage trials, it had moved to phase 3 testing in recent weeks, involving 30,000 participants in the United States, Britain, Brazil and South Africa. Scientists emphasized that there is no indication yet that the participants illness is linked to the vaccine. You're giving the vaccine to very large numbers of people. And at any given time randomly⁶ by chance, it's quite possible some of those participants may have health problems that happen to come up. So I think it's normal to expect to see these events, and what's critical is to then pause and to investigate in more detail.

阿斯利康制药公司星期三宣布暂停试验，此前，据报道，其中一名英国受试者患上了横贯性脊髓炎。虽然患者脊髓发炎，但他有望康复。由阿斯利康和牛津大学联合开发的冠状病毒疫苗被视为全世界正在开发的几十种疫苗中最有希望成功的一种。在成功进行早期试验之后，该疫苗在最近几周进入了第三阶段的测试，在美国、英国、巴西和南非有3万名参与者。科学家强调，目前还没有迹象表明参与者患病与疫苗有关。很多人都接种了这种疫苗。在任何随机的时间，这些参与者中的一些人很有可能碰巧出现了健康问题。所以我认为这些事件的发生是正常的。关键是要暂停下来，进行更详细的调查。

That investigation⁷ is underway though it's not clear how long it might take. Britain's health minister sought to assure the public. It just shows how much of an emphasis we put on the safety of the vaccine, even though, of course, we're all desperate to see it work. This week, nine leading US and European vaccine developers issued a pledge to uphold safety standards for their vaccines⁸. The US government launched Operation Warp⁹ Speed earlier this year, with almost 10 billion dollars of funding to accelerate the development of a vaccine, with a target date of January next year. The US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has told health departments across the country to draft vaccination¹⁰ plans by October. Globally there are at least seven vaccines undergoing phase-3 trials, involving thousands of participants. It's a slow process because it depends on how many people are being infected. And of course that's spread across various different regions, and in different regions, you know that the number of cases every given week is varying from week to week. Even if a vaccine is approved, scientists say it will take time to roll out. We need to make large amounts of the vaccine. We need to fill it into little glass vials. And then we need to distribute it and then work out how to actually vaccinate¹¹ people. To date, only one vaccine has been approved, the so-called sputnik 5 in Russia, which the government says will be rolled out to the Russian population starting in October. Experts have raised concerns about the vaccine safety as it has not entered phase-3 clinical trials. Henry Ridgwell for voa news London

调查正在进行中，但目前尚不清楚可能需要多长时间。英国卫生部长试图向公众保证。这正好说明了我们对疫苗安全性的重视程度，尽管我们都非常希望看到疫苗发挥作用。本周，美国和欧洲的九家主要疫苗研发商发布了一项承诺，将维护其疫苗的安全标准。美国政府在今年早些时候启动了“空间机战行动”，提供了近100亿美元的资金来加速疫苗研发，目标日期为明年1月。美国疾病控制和预防中心已经通知全国的卫生部门，在10月份之前起草疫苗接种计划。在全球范围内，至少有七种疫苗正在进行第三阶段试验，涉及数千名参与者。这是一个缓慢的过程，因为这取决于有多少人受到感染。当然，冠状病毒蔓延各地，你知道，不同的地区每周的病例数都不同。科学家说，即使疫苗获得批准，推出也需要时间。我们需要大量生产疫苗。我们需要把它装进小玻璃瓶里。然后我们需要分发疫苗，研究如何真正给人们接种疫苗。迄今为止，世界上只批准通过了一种疫苗，即俄罗斯的Sputnik 5疫苗，政府表示，该疫苗将从10月份开始向俄罗斯民众推出。由于该疫苗尚未进入第三阶段临床试验，专家们对疫苗的安全性表示担忧。美国之音记者亨利·里奇威尔，伦敦报道

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 spinal   

adj.针的，尖刺的，尖刺状突起的；adj.脊骨的，脊髓的

参考例句：

• After three days in Japan,the spinal column becomes extraordinarily flexible.在日本三天，就已经使脊椎骨变得富有弹性了。
• Your spinal column is made up of 24 movable vertebrae.你的脊柱由24个活动的脊椎骨构成。

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 Oxford   

n.牛津（英国城市）

参考例句：

• At present he has become a Professor of Chemistry at Oxford.他现在已是牛津大学的化学教授了。
• This is where the road to Oxford joins the road to London.这是去牛津的路与去伦敦的路的汇合处。

5 promising   

adj.有希望的，有前途的

参考例句：

• The results of the experiments are very promising.实验的结果充满了希望。
• We're trying to bring along one or two promising young swimmers.我们正设法培养出一两名有前途的年轻游泳选手。

6 randomly   

adv.随便地，未加计划地

参考例句：

• Within the hot gas chamber, molecules are moving randomly in all directions. 在灼热的气体燃烧室内，分子在各个方向上作无规运动。 来自辞典例句
• Transformed cells are loosely attached, rounded and randomly oriented. 转化细胞则不大贴壁、圆缩并呈杂乱分布。 来自辞典例句

7 investigation   

n.调查，调查研究

参考例句：

• In an investigation,a new fact became known, which told against him.在调查中新发现了一件对他不利的事实。
• He drew the conclusion by building on his own investigation.他根据自己的调查研究作出结论。

8 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。

9 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。

10 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。

11 vaccinate   

vt.给…接种疫苗；种牛痘

参考例句：

• Local health officials then can plan the best times to vaccinate people.这样，当地的卫生官员就可以安排最佳时间给人们接种疫苗。
• Doctors vaccinate us so that we do not catch smallpox.医生给我们打预防针使我们不会得天花。