Vaccine Makers Prepare Bird Flu Shots ‘Just in Case’

Some of the world's leading vaccine makers are developing bird flu shots to prepare for possible outbreaks of the sickness in humans.
一些全球领先的疫苗制造商正在开发禽流感疫苗,为人类可能爆发的疾病做准备 。

Bird flu, or avian flu, is officially known as H5N1. The virus usually spreads among different kinds of poultry. Human infections remain very rare. But most human cases have been linked to direct contact with infected birds.
禽流感也被正式称为H5N1。该病毒通常在不同种类的禽类中传播。人类感染仍然非常罕见。但是大多数人类病例都直接接触了受感染的禽类。

Now, several large vaccine developers are working on bird flu vaccines to prepare for the possibility that the virus could one day jump to humans.
一些大型疫苗开发企业正致力于禽流感疫苗,为病毒可能某天跳跃到人类身上做准备。

One current outbreak involves an avian flu version that has already killed record numbers of birds and some other infected animals.
目前爆发的一种禽流感类型已经导致创纪录数量的鸟类和受感染的哺乳动物死亡。

Officials at three major vaccine manufacturers told Reuters news agency they are already developing and preparing to test vaccines to protect against new bird flu variants. The companies include Britain's GSK and CSL Seqirus and U.S.-based Moderna. Other vaccine makers told Reuters they "stand ready" to begin production efforts for bird flu if necessary.
三家主要疫苗制造商的官员对路透社表示,他们已经在开发和准备测试疫苗,以防止新的禽流感变种。这些公司包括英国的葛兰素史克和CSL Seqirus,以及总部位于美国的莫德纳。其它疫苗制造商告诉路透社,他们“随时准备”在需要时开始生产禽流感疫苗产品。

In addition, there has been a push among companies to develop a vaccine to be given directly to poultry. Such a market could be much larger than the one for humans.
此外,公司之间也在推动开发禽类疫苗。禽类市场规模可能比人类市场大得多。

Vaccine company officials told Reuters that hundreds of millions of bird flu shots could be manufactured within months if a new variant of the virus starts spreading among humans.
疫苗公司官员告诉路透社,如果病毒新变种开始在人类之间传播,他们在几个月内就能制造出数亿支禽流感疫苗。

Health experts have noted, however, that most new vaccine treatments for avian flu would be set aside for wealthy nations that already have existing contracts with shot makers.
但是健康专家指出,大多数针对禽流感的新疫苗都将用于已经与销售商存在现有合同的发达国家。

Many countries have pandemic plans in place that call for giving vaccines to the most vulnerable people first while supplies are limited. But during COVID-19, many vaccine-rich countries vaccinated large parts of their populations before considering sharing shots.
许多国家制定了大流行计划,要求在供应有限的情况下率先向最脆弱的人群提供疫苗。但是在新冠疫情期间,许多疫苗资源丰富的国家在考虑共享疫苗之前,都已经为本国大部分人口接种了疫苗。

Dr. Richard Hatchett is chief executive of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations (CEPI), an organization that helps finance vaccine research. He told Reuters that possible human bird flu outbreaks could lead to even greater " and vaccine nationalism" than during the COVID-19 pandemic.
理查德·哈切特博士是流行病防范创新联盟的首席执行官,该组织协助为疫苗研究提供资金。他对路透社表示,可能爆发的人类禽流感也许会导致比新冠大流行期间更为严重的疫苗囤积和疫苗民族主义。

An international agreement covering pandemic flu sets aside 10 percent of worldwide supply for the World Health Organization to share with low- and middle-income countries. But after the COVID-19 pandemic, the WHO has sought guarantees of 20 percent of the worldwide supply for use in other pandemics.
一项涵盖流感大流行的国际协议为全球分配了10%的疫苗供应量,提供给世卫组织提供中低收入国家共享。但是新冠大流行之后,世卫组织已经寻求为其他类型的大流行提供20%的全球疫苗供应保证。

The WHO says it has signed legally-backed agreements with 14 manufacturers for 10 percent of their pandemic flu vaccine. The agreements call for the vaccines to be provided as a mix of donated shots and those to be bought by the WHO. The agreements include six of the largest seasonal flu manufacturers, such as GSK, Sanofi and CSL Seqirus, the WHO said.
世卫组织表示,它已经与14家流感疫苗生产商就10%的大流行疫苗供应量签署了具有法律效力的协议。这些协议要求提供的疫苗包含捐赠的剂量以及该机构购买的剂量。该协议包括6家最大的季节性流感疫苗生产商,诸如葛兰素史克、赛诺菲和CSL SEQIRUS。

The WHO did not comment on possible vaccine hoarding during a flu pandemic. But it said policies were being developed "so that countries can work together – not in competition with each other" to respond to such a crisis. The WHO said it was "fully confident" that manufacturers and member states would follow the policies.
世卫组织没有对流感大流行期间囤积疫苗的可能性发表评论。但是它表示正在制定政策,以便各国在应对此类危机时能够共同努力,而不是相互竞争。世卫组织表示,它“完全信任”制造商和成员国将会遵守这些政策。