美国国家公共电台 NPR--Experts have been pushing China's government to ramp up vaccinations

Experts have been pushing China's government to ramp¹ up vaccinations³

Transcript⁴

NPR's A Martinez talks to Mary Gallagher, University of Michigan's director of the Center for Chinese Studies, about China's COVID-19 struggle, much of which is linked to low vaccination² rates there.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

As China weighs potentially easing its strict zero-COVID policies, we're going to hear about how we got here and what's to come with the University of Michigan's director of the Center for Chinese Studies, Mary Gallagher. Mary, much of China's struggle with COVID is linked to low vaccination rates. The country is going to stick with its own vaccines⁶, which experts say are less effective than the ones being used in the U.S. and other countries. So how is this affecting vaccine⁵ hesitancy in China?

MARY GALLAGHER: Yeah, that's a great question. So China's vaccine hesitancy is mainly among older people, and it's been very difficult for the government to get particularly elderly vaccinated⁷. They have hesitancy around side effects, and they have often been told by their own doctors that they don't need or that they shouldn't get the vaccines. So the advice on getting vaccines in China is actually the opposite, which is that older people maybe shouldn't get it, or if they have health conditions, that they shouldn't get the vaccines.

MART?NEZ: So doctors in China are saying for them not to get the vaccine that the government is providing.

GALLAGHER: That's been the case previously⁸. I think with this new drive that they're going to have to change their tune⁹ because there's going to be a really big push in the next few weeks to get - what? - 90, 95% of the population vaccinated and boosted.

MART?NEZ: How big of a push, you think? How far is the Chinese government willing to go to get people vaccinated?

GALLAGHER: You know, they've been pretty careful. They don't have these really strict vaccine mandates¹⁰ that you've seen in other countries. They're trying a lot of enticements, you know, getting and giving people gifts or money. But I think what they'll have to do is starting to use, you know, not being able to travel and not being able to get certain types of benefits if they're not vaccinated.

MART?NEZ: I'm kind of surprised to hear that because your fear with an authoritarian¹² country, that they wouldn't try to entice¹¹ people. They would just say, this is what you're going to do.

GALLAGHER: Well, I think it puts them in a tough position. I mean, elderly people, you know, they're not - you don't want to be seen pushing elderly people around and poking¹³ them with needles when they don't want to be. So I think it's going to be really difficult to get that population vaccinated. They're going to have to use their children. And, you know, just trying to - not coerce¹⁴, but, like, get people to think about, you know, getting China out of the pandemic requires that this elderly population gets vaccinated.

MART?NEZ: Why do you think China just didn't do a mass vaccination campaign a lot earlier in the pandemic?

GALLAGHER: Well, I mean, they did have - their vaccination rate has never been bad. It's always been high and certainly higher than the United States. But at the same time, they have been trying to develop their own mRNA vaccine for quite some time. So I think they've been waiting for better vaccines and maybe waiting for the big push to come with better vaccines. They're running out of time, obviously, because the protests have accelerated the need to reopen.

MART?NEZ: Now, China's zero-COVID policy has kept virus-related deaths low - remarkably¹⁵ low actually. Virus, though, has become more transmissible. And there are signs that the strategy is starting to fail. And lifting restrictions¹⁶ now, we're hearing, might lead to a huge surge in cases. Has China essentially¹⁷ wasted the past two years, Mary?

GALLAGHER: I feel like zero-COVID became a very successful policy. It was very associated with Xi Jinping, the leader himself. And I think it caused a big delay in thinking through what's the next stage in their COVID policies. And so they've, you know, they've basically sat on this policy that initially¹⁸ in 2021 looked great. And in 2023 and going into - 2022 and then going into 2023, it really doesn't look like the best policy. So they've wasted a lot of time, and now they're being pushed to reopen, I think, faster than they should be, given where they are right now with vaccinations.

MART?NEZ: Considering how closely associated, as you mentioned, zero-COVID has been to Xi Jinping, I mean, is this - how big of a crisis is this for him?

GALLAGHER: Well, if you look at what happened to Taiwan, for example, which, you know, also had a big surge in elderly deaths when they reopened, that's the fear that China has now, which is that reopening quicker, local governments are going to have to do this and experiment with, you know, moving away from zero-COVID. There'll probably be a lot of variation across the country. But they're at a risk of a big surge in elderly deaths if they do this too quickly. But at the same time, the economy is stagnating¹⁹. And young people, as we've seen in the last couple of weeks, are really fed up with zero-COVID.

MART?NEZ: What do you think the chances are that Xi Jinping will kind of evaluate what's been going on lately and maybe rethink things or take a different track? Or is that just something that he just doesn't do?

GALLAGHER: Well, I think it all depends on what type of advice he's getting. And I think the big question that a lot of us have is, what type of advice is he getting? Is he getting good information? Do people have enough confidence to say to him, look, zero-COVID is no longer working, we need to try something new? Because that looks bad for him if it's so associated with him as the leader.

MART?NEZ: He just re-upped himself for another five years when traditionally that doesn't happen in China. Is this an opportunity for someone maybe in China, to talk about - maybe challenge his leadership at some point?

GALLAGHER: I think in the short term, no. I think he's pretty secure. He's put a lot of his own people into the top leadership. So I don't think I'm expecting anything to happen in the next couple of years at least. But, you know, Xi Jinping is a mortal man, and he will eventually have to pass on. So what's going to happen in the next five years is his people will now also be jockeying for, you know, the next leadership in five years. So I don't think he's out of the woods. And I think this has taken a big hit on his reputation, because as we move out of zero-COVID, we're going to see a lot of, you know, a lot of uncertainty²⁰ about what's going to happen in China's health care system.

MART?NEZ: That's Mary Gallagher, director of the Center for Chinese Studies at the University of Michigan. Mary, thanks.

GALLAGHER: Thank you.

1 ramp   

n.暴怒，斜坡，坡道；vi.作恐吓姿势，暴怒，加速；vt.加速

参考例句：

• That driver drove the car up the ramp.那司机将车开上了斜坡。
• The factory don't have that capacity to ramp up.这家工厂没有能力加速生产。

2 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。

3 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

4 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

5 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。

6 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。

7 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？

8 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

9 tune   

n.调子；和谐，协调；v.调音，调节，调整

参考例句：

• He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子，并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
• The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。

10 mandates   

托管（mandate的第三人称单数形式）

参考例句：

• Individual mandates would require all people to purchase health insurance. 个人托管要求所有人都要购买健康保险。
• While I agree with those benefits, I'm not a supporter of mandates. 我同意上述好处，我不是授权软件的支持者。

11 entice   

v.诱骗，引诱，怂恿

参考例句：

• Nothing will entice the children from television.没有任何东西能把孩子们从电视机前诱开。
• I don't see why the English should want to entice us away from our native land.我不明白，为什英国人要引诱我们离开自己的国土。

12 authoritarian   

n./adj.专制(的)，专制主义者，独裁主义者

参考例句：

• Foreign diplomats suspect him of authoritarian tendencies.各国外交官怀疑他有着独裁主义倾向。
• The authoritarian policy wasn't proved to be a success.独裁主义的政策证明并不成功。

13 poking   

n. 刺，戳，袋 vt. 拨开，刺，戳 vi. 戳，刺，捅，搜索，伸出，行动散慢

参考例句：

• He was poking at the rubbish with his stick. 他正用手杖拨动垃圾。
• He spent his weekends poking around dusty old bookshops. 他周末都泡在布满尘埃的旧书店里。

14 coerce   

v.强迫，压制

参考例句：

• You can't coerce her into obedience.你不能强制她服从。
• Do you think there is any way that we can coerce them otherwise?你认为我们有什么办法强迫他们不那样吗？

15 remarkably   

ad.不同寻常地，相当地

参考例句：

• I thought she was remarkably restrained in the circumstances. 我认为她在那种情况下非常克制。
• He made a remarkably swift recovery. 他康复得相当快。

16 restrictions   

约束( restriction的名词复数 )； 管制； 制约因素； 带限制性的条件（或规则）

参考例句：

• I found the restrictions irksome. 我对那些限制感到很烦。
• a snaggle of restrictions 杂乱无章的种种限制

17 essentially   

adv.本质上，实质上，基本上

参考例句：

• Really great men are essentially modest.真正的伟人大都很谦虚。
• She is an essentially selfish person.她本质上是个自私自利的人。

18 initially   

adv.最初，开始

参考例句：

• The ban was initially opposed by the US.这一禁令首先遭到美国的反对。
• Feathers initially developed from insect scales.羽毛最初由昆虫的翅瓣演化而来。

19 stagnating   

v.停滞，不流动，不发展( stagnate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• I feel I'm stagnating in this job. 我觉得，干这份工作我没有长进。
• ITT was stagnating when Geneen became the chief executive officer in 1959. 1959年吉宁出任行政总负责人时，国际电话电报公司正处于不景气时期。 来自辞典例句

20 uncertainty   

n.易变，靠不住，不确知，不确定的事物

参考例句：

• Her comments will add to the uncertainty of the situation.她的批评将会使局势更加不稳定。
• After six weeks of uncertainty,the strain was beginning to take its toll.6个星期的忐忑不安后，压力开始产生影响了。