来源：《华盛顿邮报》
原文刊登日期：2022年7月8日
Stop and reflect on the success of the coronavirus vaccines. While most vaccines take five to 10 years to develop and manufacture, the remarkable mRNA shots appeared in less than a year. They were safe, efficacious, free, and dramatically reduced serious illness and death, one of the great biomedical achievements of all time. Yet their results could have been even better.
停下来反思一下新冠病毒疫苗的成功。虽然大多数疫苗的研制和生产需要5到10年的时间，但引人注目的mRNA疫苗在不到一年的时间内就出现了。它们安全、有效、免费，并显著减少了严重疾病和死亡，这是有史以来最伟大的生物医学成就之一。然而，结果本可以更好。
A study by Oliver J. Watson and colleagues at Imperial College London sheds light on the scope of the achievement. Using mathematical modeling to examine 185 countries and territories, the scientists found that the coronavirus vaccines saved 19.8 million lives in the first year of vaccination, starting Dec. 8, 2020. This is based on the estimated excess death toll, and amounts to averting an astounding 63 percent of all deaths — in other words, cutting the loss by more than half.
伦敦帝国理工学院的奥利弗·沃森及其同事的一项研究揭示了这一成就的范围。通过对185个国家和地区进行数学建模，科学家们发现，在从2020年12月8日开始接种的第一年里，新冠病毒疫苗拯救了1980万人的生命。这基于估计的额外死亡人数，相当于避免了所有死亡人数中惊人的63%——换句话说，将损失减少了一半以上。
It could have been better. If the World Health Organization’s global target of a vaccination rate of 40 percent of all populations by the end of 2021 had been met, it would have averted nearly 600,000 additional deaths, the study says, the majority in poorer countries. In the United States, the vaccines’ success was tempered by the refusal of millions to accept the shots. Overall, 71 percent of the eligible U.S. population is vaccinated with two shots; but only 49 percent of those eligible have gotten a first booster dose. Even fewer, 26 percent of the eligible population, have a second booster. Many of those who refused paid a high price. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, in April, people over 50 years old who were unvaccinated had 42 times the risk of dying from covid-19 as those with all the shots, including two boosters. The tragedy is that so much hesitancy was caused by the deliberate spread of disinformation from anti-vaccine campaigners.
本来可以更好的。研究称，如果世界卫生组织在2021年底前将疫苗接种率提高到所有人口的40%的全球目标能够实现，就可以再避免近60万人的额外死亡，其中大多数是在较贫穷国家。在美国，疫苗的成功受到了数百万人拒绝接种的影响。总体而言，71%的符合条件的美国人口接种了两次疫苗；但只有49%的符合条件的人接种了第一剂加强针。接种第二剂加强针更少，只占符合条件人群的26%。许多拒绝接种的人付出了高昂的代价。根据美国疾病控制和预防中心4月的数据，50岁以上未接种疫苗的人死于新冠肺炎的风险是接种所有疫苗(包括两剂加强针)的人的42倍。悲剧的是，如此多的犹豫是由反疫苗运动者故意散布虚假信息造成的。
In a deeply unsettling move, anti-vaccine campaigners in Ohio are organizing a ballot initiative on a proposal that would effectively block vaccine mandates. According to an independent, nonprofit news organization, the Ohio Capital Journal, the provision declares: “An individual’s right to refuse any medical procedure, treatment, injection, vaccine, pharmaceutical, or medical device shall be absolute.” If approved by referendum, this would be written into the state’s constitution, making Ohio the only state with such a provision — though whether it would violate the U.S. Constitution might be in question.
俄亥俄州的反疫苗运动人士正在组织一项提案的投票表决，这一提案将有效地阻止疫苗强制，此举令人深感不安。据独立非营利新闻机构《俄亥俄首都日报》报道，其中有条款宣称：“个人拒绝任何医疗手术、治疗、注射、疫苗、药品或医疗设备的权利是绝对的。”如果公投通过，这一条款将被写入该州宪法，使俄亥俄州成为唯一拥有这一条款的州，尽管这是否会违反美国宪法可能是一个问题。
Covid and other diseases are not one person’s problem alone. They can transmit and spread. An unvaccinated person endangers others — and entirely unnecessarily, with highly effective and safe vaccines at hand.
新冠肺炎和其他疾病不是一个人的问题。它们可以传播和扩散。一个未接种疫苗的人会危及他人，这是完全不必要的，因为手中有高效和安全的疫苗。