VOA慢速英语2020 世卫组织呼吁各国抵制“疫苗民族主义”

Nations that store possible COVID-19 vaccines¹ while not sharing them with others will deepen the pandemic, the head of the World Health Organization (WHO) said on Tuesday.

The WHO's chief, Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, appealed to countries to join an international agreement on vaccines.

The WHO has urged wealthier nations to join its "COVAX Global Vaccines Facility" for sharing possible vaccines with developing nations. Tedros said he sent a letter to the WHO's 194 member states, telling them to sign up for the program by August 31.

Tedros' push for COVAX comes as the European Union, Britain, Switzerland and the United States are making deals with companies testing possible vaccines. Russia and China are also working on vaccines. The WHO fears national interests could hurt international efforts to slow the spread of the virus.

"We need to prevent vaccine² nationalism," Tedros said during an online meeting. He added that sharing limited vaccine supplies is "in each country's national interest."

The European Commission (EC) has urged European Union member countries to avoid the WHO-led call for joining COVAX. The EC is worried about its cost and speed.

More than 21.9 million people have been reported to be infected with the novel coronavirus worldwide and 772,647 have died. Those numbers come from Reuters news agency.

To date, 92 poorer countries hoping for voluntary donations have expressed an interest in COVAX. Eighty wealthier nations have also shown an interest. The numbers have not changed much from a month ago.

The WHO hopes to get wealthier countries to join and finance the agreement.

Some countries will not join until the agreement's terms are set, noted³ Bruce Aylward. He leads the WHO's ACT Accelerator initiative. The program was set up to speed supplies of COVID-19 diagnostics, drugs, and vaccines to those needed.

"We are not twisting arms for people to join," he said.

Increasing odds⁴

There are more than 150 vaccines in development, over 20 in human studies and several in late-stage drug trials. The WHO said that even countries making one-on-one deals with other countries increase their chances of getting the vaccine by joining COVAX.

"Which one will be the candidate that will be successful, we don't know yet," said WHO's Mariangela Simao. She added that any country that joins COVAX is "actually betting on a larger number of vaccine candidates."

COVAX now covers nine vaccine candidates.

The WHO said Tuesday that it remains⁵ worried that infections among younger people are rising worldwide. It said many younger men and women do not know they are carrying the coronavirus. They could endanger the sick and older adults, the health agency said.

"The epidemic⁶ is changing," said WHO's Western Pacific regional director, Takeshi Kasai. "People in their 20s, 30s and 40s are increasingly driving the spread."

I'm Susan Shand.

Words in This Story

pandemic - n. a contagious⁷ illness that crosses national boundaries

global - adj. worldwide

accelerator - n. an item or system that speeds things up

diagnostic - adj. a way of examining an illness to figure out what it is

twist - v. to pull out of shape

late-stage - adj. at the end of its process

epidemic - n. a contagious illness that is not controlled

1 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。

2 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。

3 noted   

adj.著名的，知名的

参考例句：

• The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
• Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。

4 odds   

n.让步，机率，可能性，比率；胜败优劣之别

参考例句：

• The odds are 5 to 1 that she will win.她获胜的机会是五比一。
• Do you know the odds of winning the lottery once?你知道赢得一次彩票的几率多大吗？

5 remains   

n.剩余物，残留物；遗体，遗迹

参考例句：

• He ate the remains of food hungrily.他狼吞虎咽地吃剩余的食物。
• The remains of the meal were fed to the dog.残羹剩饭喂狗了。

6 epidemic   

n.流行病；盛行；adj.流行性的，流传极广的

参考例句：

• That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
• The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。

7 contagious   

adj.传染性的，有感染力的

参考例句：

• It's a highly contagious infection.这种病极易传染。
• He's got a contagious laugh.他的笑富有感染力。