VOA慢速英语--英国研究辉瑞疫苗引起的过敏反应

Britain's health officials have advised that people with a history of serious allergies¹ not get the Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccine². The warning came after two people reported severe reactions on the first day of vaccination³.

National Health Service (NHS) medical director Stephen Powis said two NHS workers with a history of allergies were affected⁴. "As is common with new vaccines⁵ the MHRA have advised on a precautionary basis that people with a significant history of allergic⁶ reactions do not receive this vaccination," he said.

Powis noted⁷ that "both are recovering well" and the Medical and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) is looking to see if the reactions are linked to the vaccine.

An allergy⁸ is a medical condition that causes someone to become sick after eating, touching⁹, or breathing something that is harmless to most people.

For now, MHRA said, "Any person with a history of a significant allergic reaction to a vaccine, medicine or food... should not receive the Pfizer BioNtech vaccine."

The health agency said it would seek further information. Pfizer and BioNTech said they are working with investigators¹⁰ "to better understand each case and its causes.″

Last week, Britain became the first nation in the world to approve the Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine for emergency use. It started its vaccination program yesterday (Tuesday).

Today (Wednesday), the Canadian health agency approved the vaccine for emergency use. And the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and European Medicines Agency (EMA) are looking at the data and are expected to approve the vaccine for emergency use shortly.

People with severe allergies excluded from trials

Documents published by Pfizer and BioNTech showed that people with a history of severe allergic reactions were excluded from the trials. The drug-makers also advised doctors to look out for such reactions in trial participants who were not previously¹¹ known to have severe allergies.

In the United States, the FDA released documents on Tuesday in preparation for an advisory¹² committee meeting on Thursday. The documents say the Pfizer vaccine's efficacy and safety data met expectations for emergency approval and only 0.63 percent of people in the vaccine group reported possible allergic reactions in trials.

Peter Openshaw is a professor of experimental medicine at Imperial College London. He said that was a very small number. "The fact that we know so soon about these two allergic reactions and that the regulator has acted on this to issue precautionary advice shows that this monitoring system is working well," he added.

Sinopharm vaccine has 86 percent efficacy

For several months, Western drug-makers like Pfizer, Moderna and AstraZeneca have released and published information on the vaccine trials. But China and Russia have not released any information on their COVID-19 vaccine candidates.

On Tuesday, the health ministry¹³ of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) said in a statement that it found a vaccine developed by China National Pharmaceutical¹⁴ Group, or Sinopharm, to have an 86 percent rate of effectiveness against COVID-19.

UAE said it started Phase 3 trials of the Sinopharm vaccine in July. And the country, home to the well-known cities of Dubai and Abu Dhabi, approved emergency use of the vaccine for some groups.

The health ministry said its study of the vaccine "shows no serious safety concerns." It also said that 31,000 volunteers across 125 nationalities participated in the UAE trial. The volunteers were between 18 and 60 years old and received two shots of the vaccine over 28 days.

The ministry did not report how many volunteers were given the vaccine or a placebo¹⁵, a shot with an inactive substance. It also did not say if any side effects were identified or how many volunteers became ill.

It was unclear if the announced results included only those taking part in the UAE trials or if they also included results from China and other countries. Both UAE health officials and Sinopharm did not answer requests for comments from international news agencies.

The Sinopharm vaccine uses an inactivated¹⁶ virus to help the body produce antibodies to fight the coronavirus. It is similar to how polio vaccines are made.

The drug-maker is still conducting trials in China and countries like Egypt and Peru. However, the Chinese government has approved the vaccine for emergency use. And almost one million government officials, health care workers and others in China have been injected with the shots.

After the UAE vaccine announcement, city officials in Abu Dhabi said it would restart "all economic, tourism, cultural and entertainment activities in the emirate within two weeks."

Words in This Story

allergy - n. a medical condition that causes someone to become sick after eating, touching, or breathing something that is harmless to most people.

significant - adj. large enough to have an effect or to be noticed

participant - n. a person who is involved in an activity or event

regulator - n. government official who controls a public activity by making and enforcing rules

monitor - v. to watch, observe, listen to and check something for a purpose over a period of time

1 allergies   

n.[医]过敏症；[口]厌恶，反感；（对食物、花粉、虫咬等的）过敏症( allergy的名词复数 )；变态反应，变应性

参考例句：

• Food allergies can result in an enormous variety of different symptoms. 食物过敏会引发很多不同的症状。 来自辞典例句
• Let us, however, examine one of the most common allergies; hayfever. 现在让我们来看看最常见的变态反应的一种--枯草热。 来自辞典例句

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 affected   

adj.不自然的，假装的

参考例句：

• She showed an affected interest in our subject.她假装对我们的课题感到兴趣。
• His manners are affected.他的态度不自然。

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 allergic   

adj.过敏的，变态的

参考例句：

• Alice is allergic to the fur of cats.艾丽斯对猫的皮毛过敏。
• Many people are allergic to airborne pollutants such as pollen.许多人对空气传播的污染物过敏，比如花粉。

7 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。

8 allergy   

n.(因食物、药物等而引起的)过敏症

参考例句：

• He developed an allergy to pollen.他对花粉过敏。
• The patient had an allergy to penicillin.该患者对青霉素过敏。

9 touching   

adj.动人的，使人感伤的

参考例句：

• It was a touching sight.这是一幅动人的景象。
• His letter was touching.他的信很感人。

10 investigators   

n.调查者，审查者( investigator的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• This memo could be the smoking gun that investigators have been looking for. 这份备忘录可能是调查人员一直在寻找的证据。
• The team consisted of six investigators and two secretaries. 这个团队由六个调查人员和两个秘书组成。 来自《简明英汉词典》

11 previously   

adv.以前，先前（地）

参考例句：

• The bicycle tyre blew out at a previously damaged point.自行车胎在以前损坏过的地方又爆开了。
• Let me digress for a moment and explain what had happened previously.让我岔开一会儿，解释原先发生了什么。

12 advisory   

adj.劝告的，忠告的，顾问的，提供咨询

参考例句：

• I have worked in an advisory capacity with many hospitals.我曾在多家医院做过顾问工作。
• He was appointed to the advisory committee last month.他上个月获任命为顾问委员会委员。

13 ministry   

n.(政府的)部；牧师

参考例句：

• They sent a deputation to the ministry to complain.他们派了一个代表团到部里投诉。
• We probed the Air Ministry statements.我们调查了空军部的记录。

14 pharmaceutical   

adj.药学的，药物的；药用的，药剂师的

参考例句：

• She has donated money to establish a pharmaceutical laboratory.她捐款成立了一个药剂实验室。
• We are engaged in a legal tussle with a large pharmaceutical company.我们正同一家大制药公司闹法律纠纷。

15 placebo   

n.安慰剂；宽慰话

参考例句：

• The placebo has been found to work with a lot of different cases.人们已发现安慰剂能在很多不同的病例中发挥作用。
• The placebo effect refers to all the observable behaviors caused by placebo.安慰剂效应是指由安慰剂所引起的可观察的行为。

16 inactivated   

v.使不活泼，阻止活动( inactivate的过去式和过去分词 )

参考例句：

• Molluscicides are quickly inactivated by sunlight and adsorption to mud organic matter. 灭螺剂因阳光作用、泥土及有机物质的吸收会很快失效。 来自辞典例句
• Viruses were inactivated by BPL and the toxicity measured again. BPL对病毒进行灭活，测定残存毒力。 来自互联网