VOA慢速英语2021 奥密克戎变种表明世界疫苗不平等（在线收听）

The discovery of the Omicron version of the coronavirus is demonstrating the risks linked to world vaccine inequality.

新冠病毒奥密克戎变种的发现证明了全球疫苗不平等的相关风险。

South African scientists informed the World Health Organization (WHO) last week about the new Omicron version, or variant.

南非科学家上周向世卫组织通报了新的奥密克戎变种。

The WHO has declared Omicron a "very high" risk worldwide because it contains some "concerning" mutations. A mutation is a change in the genetic material of a virus. Early evidence suggests the new variant may spread more easily than other coronavirus versions.

世卫组织已经宣布奥密克戎在全球范围内具有非常高的风险，因为它包含一些令人担忧的突变。突变是指病毒遗传物质的改变。早期证据表明，这种新变种可能比其它新冠病毒变种更容易传播。

Many countries have closed their borders in an attempt to block new infections of the variant. The United States, Brazil, Britain and the European Union have placed travel restrictions on eight African nations where the variant was first identified.

许多国家已经关闭了边境以试图阻止该变种的新感染。美国、巴西、英国和欧盟已经对首批发现该变种的8个非洲国家实施旅行限制。

Health experts say Omicron is an example of how low vaccination rates in some parts of the world can result in new variants being created that can end up threatening numerous countries.

健康专家表示，奥密克戎是一个例子，说明世界某些地区的疫苗接种率低会导致新变种产生，最终威胁到许多国家。

The clearest example of vaccine inequality is Africa, where the new variant was discovered. Across the continent, less than 7 percent of the population is vaccinated.

疫苗不平等最明显的例子就是发现该新变种的非洲。在整个非洲大陆，只有不到7%的人口接种了疫苗。

The WHO-supported COVAX vaccine program was supposed to prevent such inequality. The program aims to bring together international organizations to develop, produce and deploy COVID-19 vaccines to nations that most need them.

世卫组织支持的新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划旨在防止这种不平等。该项目旨在召集国际组织，为最需要的国家开发、生产和部署新冠肺炎疫苗。

But COVAX has struggled to reach its vaccine targets. It has already given up on its goal to provide 2 billion vaccine doses.

但是新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划难以实现其疫苗目标。它已经放弃了提供20亿剂疫苗的目标。

To reach its new target of providing 1.4 billion doses by the end of this year, COVAX would need to ship more than 25 million doses every day. But an examination by the Associated Press finds that the organization has shipped an average of just 4 million doses a day since the beginning of October.

为了实现到今年年底前提供14亿剂疫苗的新目标，新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划每天需要运送超过2500万剂。但是美联社的一项调查发现，自10月初以来，该组织每天仅运送400万剂疫苗。

Data from the International Monetary Fund, IMF, suggests that just 13 percent of vaccines COVAX contracted for have actually been delivered. In addition, only 12 percent of promised donations have yet been delivered.

来自国际货币基金组织的数据表明，只有13%的新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划缔约疫苗已经实际交付。此外，承诺捐赠的疫苗中只有12%已经交付。

Wealthier nations, on the other hand, are enjoying a flood of vaccine supplies. More than 60 nations are now offering booster doses to already fully vaccinated individuals. The WHO has urged nations against providing booster shots when so many countries are dealing with massive populations of unvaccinated people.

另一方面，发达国家享受着大量的疫苗供应。现在有60多个国家已经向完全接种疫苗的人士提供加强针。世卫组织督促各国不要在还有这么多国家面临大量未接种人群时提供加强针。

Dr. Osman Dar directs the One Health Project at the Chatham House international policy center in Britain. He told the AP the Omicron variant demonstrates "the continuing and fundamental risks" that grew out of failures to effectively deal with vaccine inequality.

奥斯曼·达尔博士在英国查塔姆研究所国际政策中心负责One Health项目。他对美联社表示，奥密克戎变种证明了由于未能有效应对疫苗不平等而产生的持续和基本风险。

Health experts say the difficulties are not limited to just getting the vaccines into poorer countries. COVAX is also "falling short on getting vaccines from the (airport) into people's arms," said Dr. Angela Wakhweya. She is with the humanitarian aid organization CARE.

健康专家表示，困难不止是让疫苗进入贫困国家。安吉拉·瓦赫维亚博士表示，新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划也未能将疫苗从机场送到人们手中进行接种。她在CARE人道主义援助组织工作。

In one example last summer, officials in Congo returned their whole COVAX shipment when they realized they would not be able to give the shots before the safety date of the vaccines ended.

在今年夏天的另一个例子中，当刚果官员意识到他们无法在疫苗有效期前进行接种时，退回了新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划运来的疫苗。

U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said Tuesday he agrees that part of the problem has been a lack of resources in some nations to actually get vaccine injections into arms.

美国国务卿安东尼·布林肯周二表示，他赞同部分问题是一些国家缺乏资源将疫苗实际注射到人们的胳膊上。

Speaking in Latvia while attending a meeting of NATO foreign ministers, Blinken noted that "a real disparity" exists between vaccinations in Africa and the United States and Europe.

布林肯在拉脱维亚参加北约外长会议时发表讲话称，疫苗接种在非洲与欧美之间存在明显差异。

The U.S. -- which blocked vaccine sales overseas and exports of vaccine ingredients for months -- has now donated 275 million doses in all. This is more than any other country. But most of the U.S. administration's promise to provide 1.1 billion doses has a deadline of September 2022.

美国几个月来一直禁止疫苗海外销售以及疫苗成分出口，该国现在总共捐赠了2.75亿剂疫苗。这比其它任何国家都多。但是美国政府提供11亿剂疫苗的大部分承诺的截止日期是2022年9月。

The European Union -- which has generally permitted vaccines manufactured in the EU to be sold anywhere in the world -- has delivered about a third of its 500 million promised doses.

欧盟通常允许其生产的疫苗在世界各地销售，它已经交付了承诺的5亿剂疫苗的1/3。