美国国家公共电台 NPR Think You Don't Need A Flu Shot? Here Are 5 Reasons To Change Your Mind

 

STEVE INSKEEP, HOST:

If you had any doubt that the flu is a serious disease, consider this. Last winter, some 80,000 people died from the flu and its complications. Yet fewer than half of Americans get vaccinated¹ each year. And NPR's Allison Aubrey found a place where vaccination² rates are often lower - college campuses.

ALLISON AUBREY, BYLINE³: It's not a surprise when young adults think they're invincible⁴. And when it comes to the flu shot, survey data backs this up. I talked to students at George Washington University.

I just want to ask you guys if you've had the flu shot this year.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #1: Not yet.

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #2: Nah, I just didn't get it. I'll go get it.

AUBREY: How about you, flu shot - yay or nay⁵?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #3: I don't think I've gotten it, no.

AUBREY: Survey data shows one of the top reasons young adults opt⁶ out - they say they're healthy. They don't think they'll get the flu. Jack⁷ Gross (ph) and Eddie Rosku (ph) say they've heard this.

JACK GROSS: Yeah, I think that's definitely a thing. People really don't get it because they don't see a need for it.

EDDIE ROSKU: So they're like, oh, I haven't gotten it before, so I don't, like, need to get the flu shot.

AUBREY: Another obstacle - getting the flu shot can be a hassle. Miles Kalechian (ph) and Christian⁸ Joins (ph) say it's just not top of mind.

MILES KALECHIAN: Like, if you have class and work that you're going to, you know, I feel like flu shot's not very high on the list of priorities.

CHRISTIAN JOINS: Yeah. It'll take up a huge portion of their day in trying to get it.

AUBREY: These students say they plan to get a flu shot, if they haven't already. And one factor that may motivate them is last winter's death toll⁹. With 80,000 flu-related deaths, it was the highest death toll in more than 40 years. And hundreds of thousands of people were hospitalized. William Schaffner is medical director at the National Foundation for Infectious Diseases.

WILLIAM SCHAFFNER: Well, it was an extraordinary season. And we had a very vicious virus, the so-called H3N2 influenza¹⁰ strain.

AUBREY: Schaffner says it's too soon to say if this will be a severe flu season. But he says that's no reason to wait to get vaccinated. Schaffner says it's true that people 65 and older are at higher risk, but he says young adults are vulnerable, too.

SCHAFFNER: The flu can even, on occasion, take a young, healthy person and put them in the intensive care unit in 48 hours. We can't pick you out in advance, so let's all get protected.

AUBREY: On the George Washington campus, the student health center is going all out to get students vaccinated. Isabel Goldenberg is the medical director. She's organized pop-up clinics in students' favorite hangout spots.

ISABEL GOLDENBERG: We don't wait for them to come to us.

AUBREY: Today she's giving shots in the library. Peter Opitz (ph), a freshman¹¹, walks in.

PETER OPITZ: I definitely am not a big fan of needles. But you know, sickness can spread really fast on campus, and I just wanted to prevent, you know, myself from getting sick and from anyone else that I'm around.

GOLDENBERG: Peter, what arm do you want - right or left? Left?

OPITZ: Left, please.

GOLDENBERG: OK. This is a painless shot, I promise. One, two, three - in and you are done.

OPITZ: Great.

AUBREY: After such a bad flu season last year, many people know the vaccine¹² is not a hundred percent effective. But what many people don't realize is if you get the flu shot and still end up catching¹³ the virus, your sickness is likely to be significantly less severe. Student Max Webb (ph) says he'll take some protection over no protection.

MAX WEBB: I've had the flu, which was horrible. And so after that experience, I don't see a reason why even risk it without getting the vaccine. Webb says he thinks one way to motivate young people to get the flu shot would be a social media campaign where people share their flu stories. I asked him what he'd call the campaign.

WEBB: "Say Boo To The Flu" - I don't know.

AUBREY: That's good. You just came up with that now, huh?

UNIDENTIFIED PERSON #4: I like that. I like "Say Boo To The Flu."

AUBREY: It's got a good ring, and maybe it's a reminder¹⁴ to get the shot before Halloween.

Allison Aubrey, NPR News.

1 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？

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 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。

4 invincible   

adj.不可征服的，难以制服的

参考例句：

• This football team was once reputed to be invincible.这支足球队曾被誉为无敌的劲旅。
• The workers are invincible as long as they hold together.只要工人团结一致，他们就是不可战胜的。

5 nay   

adv.不；n.反对票，投反对票者

参考例句：

• He was grateful for and proud of his son's remarkable,nay,unique performance.他为儿子出色的，不，应该是独一无二的表演心怀感激和骄傲。
• Long essays,nay,whole books have been written on this.许多长篇大论的文章，不，应该说是整部整部的书都是关于这件事的。

6 opt   

vi.选择，决定做某事

参考例句：

• They opt for more holiday instead of more pay.他们选择了延长假期而不是增加工资。
• Will individual schools be given the right to opt out of the local school authority?各个学校可能有权选择退出地方教育局吗？

7 jack   

n.插座，千斤顶，男人；v.抬起，提醒，扛举；n.（Jake）杰克

参考例句：

• I am looking for the headphone jack.我正在找寻头戴式耳机插孔。
• He lifted the car with a jack to change the flat tyre.他用千斤顶把车顶起来换下瘪轮胎。

8 Christian   

adj.基督教徒的；n.基督教徒

参考例句：

• They always addressed each other by their Christian name.他们总是以教名互相称呼。
• His mother is a sincere Christian.他母亲是个虔诚的基督教徒。

9 toll   

n.过路(桥)费；损失，伤亡人数；v.敲(钟)

参考例句：

• The hailstone took a heavy toll of the crops in our village last night.昨晚那场冰雹损坏了我们村的庄稼。
• The war took a heavy toll of human life.这次战争夺去了许多人的生命。

10 influenza   

n.流行性感冒，流感

参考例句：

• They took steps to prevent the spread of influenza.他们采取措施
• Influenza is an infectious disease.流感是一种传染病。

11 freshman   

n.大学一年级学生(可兼指男女)

参考例句：

• Jack decided to live in during his freshman year at college.杰克决定大一时住校。
• He is a freshman in the show business.他在演艺界是一名新手。

12 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。

13 catching   

adj.易传染的，有魅力的，迷人的，接住

参考例句：

• There are those who think eczema is catching.有人就是认为湿疹会传染。
• Enthusiasm is very catching.热情非常富有感染力。

14 reminder   

n.提醒物，纪念品；暗示，提示

参考例句：

• I have had another reminder from the library.我又收到图书馆的催还单。
• It always took a final reminder to get her to pay her share of the rent.总是得发给她一份最后催缴通知，她才付应该交的房租。