美国国家公共电台 NPR--The FDA is reviewing COVID vaccines for children 5 and younger

The FDA is reviewing COVID vaccines² for children 5 and younger

Transcript³

Food and Drug Administration advisers⁴ are opening a two-day meeting to review Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech's COVID-19 vaccines for children, including the first vaccines for kids younger than age 5.

RACHEL MARTIN, HOST:

Months of waiting could finally be over for parents who want their young kids vaccinated⁶ against COVID-19. Today, the Food and Drug Administration kicks off a two-day meeting. At the end of it, they'll decide whether to authorize⁷ the first vaccines for children younger than 5. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein has been following all this. Good morning, Rob.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE⁸: Good morning, Rachel.

MARTIN: Rob, I feel like we have had this conversation many times...

STEIN: I know.

MARTIN: ...And there's always another obstacle, another obstacle. So here we are. A lot of adults I know have had four vaccine¹ shots. The youngest kids have had zero. Why has this taken so long?

STEIN: Yeah, Rachel, it's been a maddening wait for many parents of babies, toddlers and other young kids. They're the last group to get a chance to get vaccinated. And that's because the studies for these littlest kids started later than adults and older kids, and it turned out to be a lot trickier⁹ than expected to find just the right dose for these littlest ones. But it looks like Moderna and Pfizer and BioNTech finally did it. The FDA has released the agency's assessments¹⁰ of both vaccines and concludes that both look like they safely stimulate¹¹ enough immunity¹² to protect kids as young as 6 months old.

MARTIN: Which is good. Tell us more about these two vaccines. There are some important differences to note, right?

STEIN: Yeah, yeah. The Moderna vaccine is two shots that kids get a month apart. Each shot for the youngest kids contains about one-quarter the dose that adults get. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine contains just one-tenth the dose adults get. So the youngest kids need three shots of that vaccine. The first two are spaced three weeks apart; the third comes two months later. So, you know, if these vaccines get authorized¹³, you can see it could get kind of tricky¹⁴ for parents deciding which to get. Both vaccines look good. It's stimulating¹⁵ the immune system enough to protect kids from severe disease. But the Moderna vaccine was only about 38 to 50% effective at protecting kids against getting sick at all. The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine was about 80%. But those estimates are based on very small numbers, so it's unclear how the vaccines will really stack up against each other, especially against the newer omicron subvariants.

I talked to some parents who say they want Moderna just because two shots means it won't take as long to vaccinate⁵ their kids. Others may prefer the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine because the lower dose may cause fewer fevers, though that's not really clear yet either.

MARTIN: So parents have to weigh all that.

STEIN: Right.

MARTIN: This two-day meeting opens today. Walk us through the next steps here.

STEIN: Yeah, yeah. Today, the FDA advisers will review Moderna's vaccines for kids ages 6 through 17. Now, this isn't as important since these kids can already get the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine. But that's - that sets the stage for the main event tomorrow, when the advisers will consider the two vaccines for kids younger than age 5. It looks like a reasonable bet the advisers will recommend authorization¹⁶. I talked about this with Dr. Ofer Levy¹⁷, a Harvard pediatrician on the committee considering these vaccines.

OFER LEVY: These vaccines appear to be safe and appear to induce an antibody response that's believed to contribute to protection and are associated with a reduced risk of COVID. So those are three positive features of the data that I'm reviewing at this point.

STEIN: If the committee recommends authorization, the FDA and CDC will likely give the green light by the end of the week.

MARTIN: And then when can kids get the shots?

STEIN: You know, the Biden administration is already shipping¹⁸ millions of doses of the vaccine out. So pediatricians, hospitals and other places can start vaccinating¹⁹ these kids as early as next Tuesday if the authorization goes through and everything goes smoothly²⁰.

MARTIN: All right, we will wait and we will see. NPR health correspondent Rob Stein. Thanks for the update, Rob.

STEIN: Yeah, sure thing, Rachel.

1 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。

2 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。

3 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。

4 advisers   

顾问，劝告者( adviser的名词复数 )； （指导大学新生学科问题等的）指导教授

参考例句：

• a member of the President's favoured circle of advisers 总统宠爱的顾问班子中的一员
• She withdrew to confer with her advisers before announcing a decision. 她先去请教顾问然后再宣布决定。

5 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。

6 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？

7 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

8 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

9 trickier   

adj.狡猾的( tricky的比较级 )；（形势、工作等）复杂的；机警的；微妙的

参考例句：

• This is the general rule, but some cases are trickier than others. 以上是一般规则，但某些案例会比别的案例更为棘手。 来自互联网
• The lower the numbers go, the trickier the problems get. 武器的数量越低，问题就越复杂。 来自互联网

10 assessments   

n.评估( assessment的名词复数 )；评价；（应偿付金额的）估定；（为征税对财产所作的）估价

参考例句：

• He was shrewd in his personal assessments. 他总能对人作出精明的评价。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• Surveys show about two-thirds use such assessments, while half employ personality tests. 调查表明，约有三分之二的公司采用了这种测评；而一半的公司则采用工作人员个人品质测试。 来自百科语句

11 stimulate   

vt.刺激，使兴奋；激励，使…振奋

参考例句：

• Your encouragement will stimulate me to further efforts.你的鼓励会激发我进一步努力。
• Success will stimulate the people for fresh efforts.成功能鼓舞人们去作新的努力。

12 immunity   

n.优惠；免除；豁免，豁免权

参考例句：

• The law gives public schools immunity from taxation.法律免除公立学校的纳税义务。
• He claims diplomatic immunity to avoid being arrested.他要求外交豁免以便避免被捕。

13 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

14 tricky   

adj.狡猾的，奸诈的；(工作等)棘手的，微妙的

参考例句：

• I'm in a rather tricky position.Can you help me out?我的处境很棘手，你能帮我吗？
• He avoided this tricky question and talked in generalities.他回避了这个非常微妙的问题，只做了个笼统的表述。

15 stimulating   

adj.有启发性的，能激发人思考的

参考例句：

• shower gel containing plant extracts that have a stimulating effect on the skin 含有对皮肤有益的植物精华的沐浴凝胶
• This is a drug for stimulating nerves. 这是一种兴奋剂。

16 authorization   

n.授权，委任状

参考例句：

• Anglers are required to obtain prior authorization from the park keeper.垂钓者必须事先得到公园管理者的许可。
• You cannot take a day off without authorization.未经批准你不得休假。

17 levy   

n.征收税或其他款项，征收额

参考例句：

• They levy a tax on him.他们向他征税。
• A direct food levy was imposed by the local government.地方政府征收了食品税。

18 shipping   

n.船运（发货，运输，乘船）

参考例句：

• We struck a bargain with an American shipping firm.我们和一家美国船运公司谈成了一笔生意。
• There's a shipping charge of ￡5 added to the price.价格之外另加五英镑运输费。

19 vaccinating   

给…接种疫苗( vaccinate的现在分词 )； 注射疫苗，接种疫苗

参考例句：

• At first blush, vaccinating the wolves against rabies seems a simple solution. 乍一看来，为狼群注射防狂犬病疫苗是一种简单的办法。
• Also vaccinating children against misers (measles) has saved many lives. 还有，给儿童进行疫苗接种防止麻疹也挽救了许多生命。

20 smoothly   

adv.平滑地，顺利地，流利地，流畅地

参考例句：

• The workmen are very cooperative,so the work goes on smoothly.工人们十分合作，所以工作进展顺利。
• Just change one or two words and the sentence will read smoothly.这句话只要动一两个字就顺了。