2020年经济学人 新冠疫苗—艰难与困苦(1)

What do a malaria¹ drug, a Russian vaccine² and the blood plasma³ of people who have recovered from covid-19 have in common?

抗疟疾药物、俄罗斯疫苗和新冠康复患者的血浆之间有什么共同之处？

All have been approved for use by governments in response to the coronavirus pandemic,

上述这些都被政府批准使用以应对新冠疫情，

with little or no scientific substance to back those decisions up.

且都几乎没有科学依据来支持这些决定。

On March 28th, near the pandemic's beginning, America's Food and Drug Administration (FDA)

3月28日，疫情开始之前，美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）

issued emergency-use authorisation for hydroxychloroquine,

批准了羟基氯喹的紧急使用授权，

an established but not risk-free antimalarial medicine which was controversially being proposed by some people,

这是一种得到认可但存在风险的抗疟疾药物，一些人提议使用该药物作为一种治疗新冠的潜在药物，

including Donald Trump⁴, the country's president, as a possible covid treatment.

其中就包括该国总统唐纳德·特朗普

It did so, the authorisation stated, based on "limited in vitro and anecdotal clinical data".

授权声明称，它是基于“有限的体外和传闻临床数据”而批准使用的。

On August 11th Vladimir Putin, Mr Trump's Russian counterpart,

8月11日，俄罗斯领导人弗拉基米尔·普京表示

said his government was the world's first to approve a coronavirus vaccine, despite a lack of proper tests.

尽管缺乏适当的测试，但他的政府是世界首个批准新冠疫苗的国家。

And on August 23rd Mr Trump announced approval of the use of convalescent plasma therapy to treat covid-19.

8月23日，特朗普宣布批准使用恢复期血浆疗法治疗新冠。

He described it as a "very historic breakthrough" on the basis of a study the statistics of which the head of the FDA, Stephen Hahn, got publicly and spectacularly wrong.

他称这是一个基于一项研究的“非常具有历史意义的突破”，FDA局长史蒂芬·哈恩公开了这项研究的数据，这些数据错得离谱。

That regulators move fast in emergencies is to be applauded.

监管机构在紧急情况下的快速行动值得称赞。

But these three examples have raised worries that sometimes they are moving too fast, and possibly for the wrong reasons.

但以上三种情况引发担忧：他们有时行动太快，而且可能出发点是错误的。

In one instance, indeed, things have gone full circle. Hydroxychloroquine's approval was rescinded⁵ on June 15th,

确实，在上述一种情况中，事情已经回到了原点。羟基氯喹的批准在6月15日被撤销，

after a series of well-conducted trials showed that it had no effect on covid-19.

此前一系列良好的试验表明，它对新冠没有作用。

The worry is that the other two approaches may prove similarly futile—diverting attention and effort from more promising⁶ avenues or, worse, causing actual harm.

令人担忧的是，另外两种方法可能被证明一样是徒劳——将注意力和精力从更有希望的途径上转移，或者更糟，造成实际的伤害。

The Russian announcement was of the development, by the Gamaleya Research Institute of Epidemiology and Microbiology, in Moscow, of Sputnik V.

俄罗斯宣布了由莫斯科加玛丽亚流行病学和微生物学研究所研发的 Sputnik V。

This involves two injections, three weeks apart. Each shot is of a harmless virus that has been modified

其中包含两次注射，间隔三周。每一针都是注射一种被修改过的无害病毒，

to express one of the proteins made by SARS-COV-2, the virus that causes covid-19.

它能够显现出一种由SARS-COV-2合成的蛋白质，而SARS-COV-2就是引起新冠肺炎的病毒。

This is a perfectly⁷ sensible approach. Unfortunately, Sputnik V has not yet been through the trials,

这是一种非常明智的做法。不幸的是，Sputnik V还没有通过试验，

normally involving many thousands of people, which would be needed to show that it works and is safe.

试验通常需要好几千人的参与，才能证明它的有效性和安全性。

In fact, it has been given to a mere⁸ 76 people, and no results from these tests

事实上，仅有76人参与了试验，并且这些测试的结果

(nor from any of the animal tests that the institute says it has run) have yet been published.

（还是该机构所说的动物测试的结果）都尚未发表。

Mr Putin has, in other words, simply redrawn the finishing line for making a vaccine, stepped over it, and declared victory.

换言之，普京只是重新划定了疫苗生产的终点线，跨过了这条线，宣布了胜利。

1 malaria   

n.疟疾

参考例句：

• He had frequent attacks of malaria.他常患疟疾。
• Malaria is a kind of serious malady.疟疾是一种严重的疾病。

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 plasma   

n.血浆，细胞质，乳清

参考例句：

• Keep some blood plasma back for the serious cases.留一些血浆给重病号。
• The plasma is the liquid portion of blood that is free of cells .血浆是血液的液体部分，不包含各种细胞。

4 trump   

n.王牌，法宝；v.打出王牌，吹喇叭

参考例句：

• He was never able to trump up the courage to have a showdown.他始终鼓不起勇气摊牌。
• The coach saved his star player for a trump card.教练保留他的明星选手，作为他的王牌。

5 rescinded   

v.废除，取消( rescind的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Rescinded civil acts shall be null and void from the very beginning. 被撤销的民事行为从行为开始起无效。 来自互联网
• They accepted his advice and rescinded the original plan. 他们听从了他的劝告，撤销了原计划。 来自互联网

6 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。

7 perfectly   

adv.完美地，无可非议地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The witnesses were each perfectly certain of what they said.证人们个个对自己所说的话十分肯定。
• Everything that we're doing is all perfectly above board.我们做的每件事情都是光明正大的。

8 mere   

adj.纯粹的；仅仅，只不过

参考例句：

• That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
• It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。