美国国家公共电台 NPR--The FDA is considering authorizing a spring COVID-19 booster

The FDA is considering authorizing¹ a spring COVID-19 booster

Transcript²

The Food and Drug Administration appears ready to authorize³ that some people — such as those with weak immune systems — get yet another booster with one of the newest COVID-19 vaccines⁵.

A MART?NEZ, HOST:

NPR has learned the Food and Drug Administration is considering allowing some people to get another booster with one of the newest COVID-19 vaccines. Here's NPR health correspondent Rob Stein.

ROB STEIN, BYLINE⁶: At this point in the pandemic, if you can't even remember how many COVID shots and boosters you've gotten, you're not alone. Kat Moore (ph) is a nurse practitioner⁷, and even she had to take a minute to figure it out.

KAT MOORE: I got the first two in January of 2021 when it first came out. Then I think I got another booster, and I think I got yet another booster after that, and then omicron. So I believe it's five, yeah.

STEIN: But Moore, who's 63 and lives in North Plainfield, N.J., knows she wants another booster right now, even though she's already had COVID once and knows the numbers are going down.

MOORE: I just don't want to get COVID again. I do not want to get it again. I don't really know what the long-term risks are, and I don't really want to find out. I don't want the risk of long COVID. I don't want the breathing problems. I don't want the fatigue⁸. I don't want those things.

STEIN: But at the moment, Moore can't get another booster. The FDA has only authorized⁹ the newest formulations of the vaccines, the bivalent shots that target omicron, for one booster. Instead, the agency is planning for an annual COVID booster campaign starting in the fall, with vaccines that have been updated to target whichever variant¹⁰ is expected to be circulating next winter.

MOORE: Why not get both? You know, in the past, we've had upticks in the summertime. Why not get both?

STEIN: A federal official who is not authorized to speak publicly tells NPR that the agency is reconsidering the situation and may authorize a second booster with the bivalent vaccines for at least some people, like those who are at high risk because they have weak immune systems or are 65 and older. That's what some vaccine⁴ specialists have been urging, like Dr. Peter Hotez at the Baylor College of Medicine.

PETER HOTEZ: Those doses are going to be expired and will be thrown out. so it makes sense to have those shots in arms rather than tossed in the wastebasket. The way to go is to get that second bivalent spring booster out there.

STEIN: The concern is the protection people got from their shots has been fading, not just against getting infected, but also possibly against getting seriously ill. So Hotez thinks people as young as 50 should be able to get a second bivalent booster if they want one. But other scientists aren't so sure. They say there just isn't any good data showing protection against serious illness has faded that much or getting another shot would help that much. And there's a theoretical possibility that it could kind of backfire because the bivalent boosters target a strain that's already been replaced by a new one. Dr. Gregory Poland is a vaccine expert at the Mayo Clinic.

GREGORY POLAND: The concern is that if we continue to give boosters against a virus that's not circulating, when we do see the next variant, you may not develop a vigorous immune response to that new viral variant.

STEIN: Less than 17% of those eligible¹¹ for the first bivalent shot got one, and so the demand for another one right now would probably be even lower. But some people would rush to get one if they could, like Moore and Ellen McDaniel-Weissler (ph). She's 63 and lives in rural Maryland.

ELLEN MCDANIEL-WEISSLER: I am deeply convinced that the COVID pandemic is not over, in spite of the fact that people are, you know, suffering from COVID fatigue, as am I. But people are still dying of COVID every day.

STEIN: The FDA is expected to make a decision within weeks.

Rob Stein, NPR News.

(SOUNDBITE OF NORTHCAPE'S "CAPILLARY ACTION")

1 authorizing   

授权，批准，委托( authorize的现在分词 )

参考例句：

• Letters of Marque: Take letters from a warning friendly power authorizing privateering. 私掠许可证：从某一个国家获得合法抢劫的证书。
• Formal phavee completion does not include authorizing the subsequent phavee. 阶段的正式完成不包括核准随后的阶段。

2 transcript   

n.抄本，誊本，副本，肄业证书

参考例句：

• A transcript of the tapes was presented as evidence in court.一份录音带的文字本作为证据被呈交法庭。
• They wouldn't let me have a transcript of the interview.他们拒绝给我一份采访的文字整理稿。

3 authorize   

v.授权，委任；批准，认可

参考例句：

• He said that he needed to get his supervisor to authorize my refund.他说必须让主管人员批准我的退款。
• Only the President could authorize the use of the atomic bomb.只有总统才能授权使用原子弹。

4 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。

5 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。

6 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。

7 practitioner   

n.实践者，从事者；(医生或律师等)开业者

参考例句：

• He is an unqualified practitioner of law.他是个无资格的律师。
• She was a medical practitioner before she entered politics.从政前她是个开业医生。

8 fatigue   

n.疲劳，劳累

参考例句：

• The old lady can't bear the fatigue of a long journey.这位老妇人不能忍受长途旅行的疲劳。
• I have got over my weakness and fatigue.我已从虚弱和疲劳中恢复过来了。

9 authorized   

a.委任的，许可的

参考例句：

• An administrative order is valid if authorized by a statute.如果一个行政命令得到一个法规的认可那么这个命令就是有效的。

10 variant   

adj.不同的，变异的；n.变体，异体

参考例句：

• We give professional suggestions according to variant tanning stages for each customer.我们针对每位顾客不同的日晒阶段，提供强度适合的晒黑建议。
• In a variant of this approach,the tests are data- driven.这个方法的一个变种，是数据驱动的测试。

11 eligible   

adj.有条件被选中的；(尤指婚姻等)合适(意)的

参考例句：

• He is an eligible young man.他是一个合格的年轻人。
• Helen married an eligible bachelor.海伦嫁给了一个中意的单身汉。