Vaccine1

 

Broadcast: Jan 6, 2003
By Jill Moss¹

This is the VOA Special English Development Report.

Vaccines³ are special medicines to prevent diseases. They are usually given to children by injection. They have prevented millions of deaths around the world. However, a new report says children in rich countries are getting most of the world's vaccines.

The World Health Organization, World Bank, and the U-N Children's Fund, UNICEF, released the joint⁴ study in November. It says that vaccinations⁶ are a powerful, low cost way to prevent the spread of diseases. However, the study found that twenty-five percent of the world's children lack protection from common, preventable diseases.

For example, only fifty percent of children in countries in southern Africa are vaccinated⁷ during the first years of life against diseases like tuberculosis2, measles3, tetanus and whooping⁸ cough. In some of the poorest developing countries, fewer than five percent of children are vaccinated against these diseases.

Officials say many developing countries are not able to buy vaccines used in industrial countries. In fact, UNICEF, the single largest buyer of vaccines for children, also has problems finding needed medicines. This is because demand for vaccines is higher than the supply in the world market.

Daniel Tarantola heads the vaccine² program for the World Health Organization. He says one way to solve the shortage problem is by having developing nations manufacture their own vaccines. This, he says, would also help lower the cost of treatments in poor countries. Doctor Tarantola believes the market for vaccines in developing countries could be huge. This is because more than one-hundred-thirty-million children are born in developing countries each year.

The report says wealthy countries need to provide poor nations with more aid money to help prevent the spread of diseases. Every year, industrial nations give more than one-and-one-half-thousand-million dollars in aid for vaccination⁵ programs.

An extra two-hundred-fifty-million dollars a year would pay for major vaccines for at least another ten-million children. An additional one-hundred-million dollars a year would cover the cost of newer kinds of vaccines for those same children. Such new vaccines protect against diseases like Hepatitis B, which causes more than five-hundred-thousand deaths a year.

This VOA Special English Development Report was written by Jill Moss.
1. vaccine [5vAksI:n] n. 疫苗，牛痘疫苗
2. tuberculosis [tju7bE:kju5lEusIs] n. 肺结核
3. measles [5mI:zIz] n. 麻疹，风疹

1 moss   

n.苔，藓，地衣

参考例句：

• Moss grows on a rock.苔藓生在石头上。
• He was found asleep on a pillow of leaves and moss.有人看见他枕着树叶和苔藓睡着了。

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 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。

4 joint   

adj.联合的，共同的；n.关节，接合处；v.连接，贴合

参考例句：

• I had a bad fall,which put my shoulder out of joint.我重重地摔了一跤，肩膀脫臼了。
• We wrote a letter in joint names.我们联名写了封信。

5 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。

6 vaccinations   

n.种痘，接种( vaccination的名词复数 )；牛痘疤

参考例句：

• Vaccinations ensure one against diseases. 接种疫苗可以预防疾病。 来自《简明英汉词典》
• I read some publicity about vaccinations while waiting my turn at the doctor's. 在医生那儿候诊时，我读了一些关于接种疫苗的宣传。 来自《简明英汉词典》

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？

8 whooping   

发嗬嗬声的，发咳声的

参考例句：

• Whooping cough is very prevalent just now. 百日咳正在广泛流行。
• Have you had your child vaccinated against whooping cough? 你给你的孩子打过百日咳疫苗了吗？