医学英语：2021年不可能实现群体免疫

Professor Andrew Pollard, Director of the Oxford Vaccine Group (OVG), and a professor of Paediatric Infection and Immunity receives the Oxford University/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine from nurse Sam Foster at the Churchill Hospital in Oxford, Britain January 4, 2021. Steve Parsons/Pool via REUTERS

World Health Organization (WHO) chief scientist Soumya Swaminathan said Monday that herd immunity to coronavirus would not be achieved in 2021, despite the growing availability of vaccines.

世界卫生组织的首席科学家苏米娅·斯瓦米纳坦周一（1月11日）表示，即使疫苗产量不断增加，也不可能在2021年实现对新冠病毒的群体免疫。

Mitigating factors to herd immunity include limited access to vaccines in developing countries, skepticism over vaccination, and the potential for virus mutations, according to health experts.

卫生专家指出，阻止群体免疫实现的因素包括发展中国家获得疫苗的能力有限、民众对接种疫苗的质疑以及病毒变异的可能性。

A growing number of countries around the world, including the United States, the United Kingdom, Singapore, Germany and other European Union countries, are in the first stages of mass-vaccination campaigns.

全世界越来越多的国家都开始了第一阶段的大规模疫苗接种，包括美国、英国、新加坡、德国和其他欧盟国家。

Herd immunity occurs when enough people in a population have immunity to an infection so that it prevents the disease from spreading.

当足够多的人口对一种传染病免疫，从而防止了疫病传播，群体免疫就实现了。

"We are not going to achieve any levels of population immunity or herd immunity in 2021," Swaminathan told a briefing, while emphasizing that measures like physical distancing, hand washing and mask wearing continue to be necessary in containing COVID's spread for the rest of the year.

斯瓦米纳坦在新闻发布会上说：“我们不可能在2021年实现任何程度的人群免疫或群体免疫。”同时她还强调，继续推行保持距离、勤洗手、佩戴口罩等措施对于在接下来的这一年控制新冠疫情传播很有必要。

However, Swaminathan commended the "incredible progress" made by vaccine researchers to develop several safe and effective vaccines at unprecedented speed. Countries are currently administering vaccines developed by BioNTech-Pfizer, Oxford University/AstraZeneca and Moderna.

不过，斯瓦米纳坦称赞了疫苗研究人员取得的“惊人进展”，他们以史无前例的速度研发出了数种安全有效的疫苗。目前多个国家正在接种生物新技术/辉瑞、牛津/阿斯利康和莫德纳公司研发的疫苗。

Pfizer-BioNTech COVID-19 vaccines are seen at a coronavirus disease vaccination center inside a gymnasium in Taverny near Paris, France, January 9, 2021. REUTERS/Benoit Tessier

The WHO top scientist called on people to be "a little patient," pointing out that the rollout of vaccines "does take time," as the scale of dose production is in the billions.

世界卫生组织的这位首席科学家请求人们“更耐心一点”，并指出疫苗的推广“确实需要时间”，因为疫苗生产规模达数十亿剂。

"The vaccines are going to come," she said. "They are going to go to all countries ... but meanwhile we mustn't forget that there are measures that work," she added, referring to hygiene and social distancing.

她补充道：“疫苗会生产出来的。它们会被分发到所有国家……与此同时我们不能忘记防疫措施的作用。”她所说的防疫措施指的是保持卫生和社交距离。

In the US, which currently has the world's highest daily case numbers, officials said Monday over 25,400,000 vaccine doses have so far been distributed, with nearly 9,000,000 doses having been administered. In Germany, more than 600,000 people have so far been vaccinated against COVID, according to the Robert Koch Institute for public health.

美国目前的单日新增确诊病例数量是全世界最高的，美国官员周一表示，到目前为止已经发放了超2540万剂疫苗，其中近900万剂已经完成接种。德国公共卫生机构罗伯特·科赫研究所称，德国逾已有60万人接种新冠疫苗。

"We won't get back to normal quickly," Dale Fisher, chairman of the WHO's Outbreak Alert and Response Network, told a conference hosted by Reuters news agency.

世界卫生组织疫情警报和反应网络主席戴尔·费舍尔在路透社举办的一个大会上称：“我们不会很快回归正常生活。”

"We know we need to get to herd immunity and we need that in a majority of countries, so we are not going to see that in 2021," Fisher said.

费舍尔说：“我们知道我们需要实现群体免疫，需要在大多数国家实现群体免疫，所以在2021年还不能实现。”

"There might be some countries that might achieve it but even then that will not create 'normal' especially in terms of border controls," he added.

他补充道：“可能会有一些国家实现群体免疫，但即使如此也不能正常生活，尤其是在边境管控方面。”