VOA标准英语2009-Europeans Shun Swine Flu Vaccine as Deaths F

A European medical society has expressed alarm at the widespread opposition¹ in Europe against the swine flu vaccine². Meanwhile, experts say the number of deaths in Europe from the H1N1 virus are doubling every two weeks.

Lisa Bryant | Paris 25 November 2009

 
A French citizen receives the vaccination³ for H1N1 flu in Nice, 12 Nov 2009

A European medical society has expressed alarm at the widespread opposition in Europe against the swine flu vaccine. Meanwhile, experts say the number of deaths in Europe from the H1N1 virus are doubling every two weeks.

Concern that Europeans are shunning⁴ the vaccine against the H1N1 virus was raised this week by the European Society of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases. The Swiss-based nonprofit says that as European countries roll out their vaccine campaigns, they face opposition from anti-vaccine lobbyists. It says some of these groups are deliberately⁵ spreading misinformation. Guiseppe Cornaglia is the society's former president.

"We have strong bodies of evidence from most countries in Europe in which people, including doctors, public health professionals are disseminating⁶ doubts about the validity of the vaccine," said Cornaglia. "They are worried about the possible side effects, about what they listen to from friends and the Internet because there is no official source. And they claim the need for a vaccination is not so great to afford these risks."

In France, where a government vaccine campaign kicked off in public schools on Wednesday, a recent survey found only 21 percent of French said they planned on getting vaccinated⁷.

European skepticism about the vaccine comes as the Stockholm-based European Center for Disease Control and Prevention reports the number of deaths in Europe due to the H1N1 virus has been doubling every two weeks since mid-October. Altogether, the center says, about 670 deaths have been reported in Europe since April.

Cornaglia, of the Microbiology society, says doctors and health authorities need to campaign more strongly to get the right information out about the vaccine.

"If the authorities cannot convince the doctors and if the doctors don't advise their own patients, the battle is lost. Because the transmission is not efficient,"  The problem is possibly that the information isn't efficient enough," said Cornaglia.

If the vaccine campaign fails to take off in Europe, the society says, the swine flu pandemic may even spread more widely and cause more deaths, particularly among children and young adults.

1 opposition   

n.反对，敌对

参考例句：

• The party leader is facing opposition in his own backyard.该党领袖在自己的党內遇到了反对。
• The police tried to break down the prisoner's opposition.警察设法制住了那个囚犯的反抗。

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 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。

4 shunning   

v.避开，回避，避免( shun的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• My flight was more a shunning of external and internal dangers. 我的出走是要避开各种外在的和内在的威胁。 来自辞典例句
• That book Yeh-yeh gave me-"On Filial Piety and the Shunning of Lewdness"-was still on the table. 我坐下来，祖父给我的那本《刘芷唐先生教孝戒淫浅训》还在桌子上。 来自汉英文学 - 家（1-26） - 家（1-26）

5 deliberately   

adv.审慎地；蓄意地；故意地

参考例句：

• The girl gave the show away deliberately.女孩故意泄露秘密。
• They deliberately shifted off the argument.他们故意回避这个论点。

6 disseminating   

散布，传播( disseminate的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Our comrades in propaganda work have the task of disseminating Marxism. 我们作宣传工作的同志有一个宣传马克思主义的任务。
• Disseminating indecent photographs on the internet a distasteful act. 在因特网上发布不雅照片是卑劣的行径。

7 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？