非洲疾控中心主任：疫苗接种困难重重｜健康外刊

ARI SHAPIRO, HOST: Early predictions were wrong. Africa has seen fewer deaths from COVID-19 in the last year than people initially projected--just over 100,000 to date.

主持人阿里.夏皮罗:早期的预测是错误的。去年，非洲新冠肺炎死亡人数低于最初的预测--迄今刚刚超过10万人。

I asked Dr. John Nkengasong why that might be.

我问约翰.恩肯加松博士原因。

He directs the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention and he pointed to the continent's young population. The median age there is just about 20 years old.

他是非洲疾病控制和预防中心的主任，他谈到非洲大陆的年轻人口，这里年轻人的平均年龄只有20岁左右。

JOHN NKENGASONG: Many people are being infected, but they are recovering from those infections.

约翰.恩肯加松：许多人感染了新冠肺炎，但他们正在从感染中恢复。

I think that is clearly one reason why we've not seen a lot of deaths.

我认为，这显然是非洲没有更多死亡病例的原因之一。

SHAPIRO: When I asked what most concerns him right now, he said it's getting vaccines.

夏皮罗:我问他现在最关心的事情，他说是接种疫苗。

NKENGASONG: What concerns me the most is the inability to have handy access to avaccine that we all know would be a game-changer in defining the course of the pandemic.

恩肯加松:我最担心的是无法便利地获得一种疫苗，我们都知道这种疫苗将改变决定新冠肺炎进程的游戏规则。

SHAPIRO: The continent is getting some help from the World Health Organization but not enough, he says.

夏皮罗:他表示，非洲大陆得到了世界卫生组织的一些帮助，但还不够。

NKENGASONG: As we speak, vaccines are just now beginning to arrive to the continent.

恩肯阿松:就在我们说话的时候，疫苗刚刚开始抵达非洲。

SHAPIRO: The WHO program called COVAX is delivering vaccine doses to less-wealthy developing countries, but it won't come close to the number of doses Dr. Nkengasong says Africa will need to vaccinate 60% of its 1.2 billion people.

夏皮罗:世卫组织名为COVAX的项目将向不那么富裕的发展中国家提供疫苗，但恩肯加松博士表示，在非洲12亿人口中，60%的人需要接种疫苗。

So the African Union is working to round up more doses, and then comes the challenge of distribution.

因此，非洲联盟正在努力收集更多的疫苗，然后就是面对分配这一挑战。

NKENGASONG: That requires extraordinary logistics and unprecedented efforts that we have never done on the continent.

恩肯阿松:这需要非凡的物流和前所未有的努力，这是我们在非洲大陆从未做过的。

As a matter of fact, the continent of Africa has never vaccinated more than 1 million people in one year.

事实上，非洲从未在一年内为100多万人接种疫苗。

So this is going to be a historic effort to be able to do a vaccination at the speed at which we expect it.

因此，这将是一次历史性的努力，能够以我们预期的速度进行疫苗接种。

SHAPIRO: Plus the extremely cold storage chain that Pfizer and Moderna vaccines require could be a problem in parts of the continent with less infrastructure.

夏皮罗:此外，在非洲大陆一些基础设施较少的地区,辉瑞和Moderna疫苗所需要的极度低温储存链可能是个问题。

While the U.S. looks at maybe getting back to normal by the summer or the fall, Dr.Nkengasong told me the African continent might not reach that point until the end of next year.

恩肯加松告诉我，虽然美国可能会在夏季或秋季恢复正常，但是，非洲大陆可能要到明年年底才能实现这一目标。

NKENGASONG: At that point, I would feel comfortable to declare that the continent is back to normal again.

恩肯加松:到那时，我可以很舒服地宣布，非洲大陆将恢复正常。

SHAPIRO: Dr. John Nkengasong, director of the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention, speaking from his office in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.

夏皮罗:非洲疾病控制和预防中心主任约翰.恩肯阿松博士在埃塞俄比亚亚的斯亚贝巴的办公室发表讲话。

(SOUNDBITE OF VALLIS ALPS SONG,"RUN")

(阿尔卑斯山谷之歌，“奔跑”)