美国有线新闻 CNN 早期结果显示疫苗对南非新冠变体效果不佳

New variants¹ or strains of COVID-19 are appearing around the world, as it mutates like other viruses do and one big question being asked is, will existing vaccines² protect people against the new versions of coronavirus?

新冠肺炎新变种或毒株正在世界各地出现，当它就像其他病毒一样发生变异时，一个重要问题是，现有疫苗能保护人们免受冠状病毒新变种的侵害吗？

The short answer is, scientists don't know yet. One of these new COVID strains was first seen in South Africa and several drugmakers say early tests indicate their vaccines aren't as effective against the South African strain as they are against the dominant³ strain spreading in the U.S.

简短的回答是，科学家尚不知道答案。一种新冠肺炎新毒株最早出现在南非，一些制药商表示，早期测试结果表明，他们的疫苗对南非毒株的效果不如对在美国传播的主要毒株的效果好。

Two companies, Moderna and Pfizer say they may develop booster shots if their existing vaccines don't work against new coronavirus strains.

莫德纳和辉瑞两家公司表示，如果现有疫苗对冠状病新毒株不起作用，他们可能会开发增强版疫苗。

America has seen a decrease in recent COVID-19 infections. On Sunday, just over 88,000 new positive tests were reported in the country and it was the first day this year that fewer than 100,000 were reported.

最近，美国的新冠肺炎感染人数有所减少。周日，全美报告的新增阳性检测病例仅有8.8万多例，这是今年首次日报告阳性检测数不足10万例。

But a medical expert told CNN that the U.S. could be in the eye of the hurricane — meaning a decrease in cases that's only temporary because of the new disease variants that are spreading.

但是一名医学专家对CNN表示，美国可能正处于“飓风中心”，这意味着由于新变种正在蔓延，病例的减少只是暂时的。

1 variants   

n.变体( variant的名词复数 )；变种；变型；（词等的）变体

参考例句：

• Those variants will be preserved in the'struggle for existence". 这些变异将在“生存竞争”中被保留下来。 来自辞典例句
• Like organisms, viruses have variants, generally called strains. 与其他生物一样，病毒也有变种，一般称之为株系。 来自辞典例句

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 dominant   

adj.支配的，统治的；占优势的；显性的；n.主因，要素，主要的人(或物)；显性基因

参考例句：

• The British were formerly dominant in India.英国人从前统治印度。
• She was a dominant figure in the French film industry.她在法国电影界是个举足轻重的人物。