The African Union's top health official wants to get the world's first approved malaria vaccine to African countries as soon as possible.
非盟最高卫生官员希望尽快向非洲国家提供首款获得批准的疟疾疫苗。

This comes one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the vaccine should be given to children across Africa to stop the spread of the disease.
此前一天，世界卫生组织表示应该给非洲各地儿童接种这款疫苗以阻止疾病传播。

John Nkengasong is the director of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He told an online news conference Thursday, "We will be engaging with GAVI (the vaccine alliance) and WHO in the coming days to understand first of all the availability of this vaccine."
约翰·恩肯阿松是非洲疾控中心主任。他在周四的在线新闻发布会上表示：“我们将在未来几天与疫苗联盟以及世卫组织合作，首先了解这种疫苗的可用性。”

He noted that by the end of 2021, malaria will likely have killed many more people in Africa than COVID-19 will have.
他指出，到2021年底，疟疾在非洲造成的死亡人数可能会超过新冠肺炎。

WHO recommends malaria vaccine
世卫组织推荐接种疟疾疫苗

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it "a historic moment" Wednesday after the health agency's advisory groups approved the use of a vaccine to fight malaria.
在世卫组织顾问团批准这种疟疾疫苗的使用之后，世卫组织总干事谭塞德周三称这是历史性时刻。

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti is the WHO's Africa director. She said, "We expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults."
玛特世蒂索·莫提博士是世卫组织非洲区主任。她表示：“我们希望更多非洲儿童能够免受疟疾侵害，并健康长大。”

The WHO said its decision was based largely on results from ongoing research in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The research followed more than 800,000 children who have received the vaccine since 2019. The WHO said side effects were rare, but sometimes included a high temperature that could result in temporary sudden movements called convulsions.
世卫组织表示，其决定主要是基于在加纳、肯尼亚和马拉维正在进行中的研究所取得的研究结果。该研究跟踪了2019年以来接种疫苗的80多万名儿童。世卫组织表示，该疫苗的副作用很少，但有时也会出现可能导致抽搐的高烧。

The vaccine, known as Mosquirix, was developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in 1987. While it is the first to be authorized, the vaccine is only about 30 percent effective. It requires up to four treatments and its protection decreases after several months.
这种名为Mosquirix的疫苗是由英国制药商葛兰素史克于1987年开发的。虽然它是全球首款获得授权的疫苗，但是该疫苗的有效率只有30%左右。它最多需要4次诊治，几个月后它的保护作用就会减弱。

But scientists say the vaccine could have a major effect against malaria in Africa. Most of the world's 200 million cases and 400,000 malaria deaths each year are in Africa.
但是科学家表示，这种疫苗可能会对非洲的疟疾产生重大影响。全世界每年有2亿例疟疾病例和40万例疟疾死亡，其中大多数发生在非洲。

Julian Rayner, director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, said, "It's an imperfect vaccine, but it will still stop hundreds of thousands of children from dying."
剑桥医学研究所所长朱利安·雷纳表示：“这是一种不完美的疫苗，但是它仍将阻止数十万儿童死亡。”

Dr. Alejandro Cravioto is head of the WHO vaccine group that gave the guidance. He said designing a shot against malaria was difficult because it is a parasitic disease spread by insects called mosquitoes.
亚历杭德罗·克拉维奥托博士是提供指导的世卫组织疫苗组组长。他表示，设计一款对抗疟疾的疫苗很困难，因为它是一种由蚊子传播的寄生虫病。

"We're confronted with extraordinarily complex organisms," he said. "We are not yet in reach of a highly efficacious vaccine, but what we have now is a vaccine that can be deployed and that is safe."
他说：“我们面对的是极其复杂的生物体。我们还没有获得高度有效的疫苗，但是我们现在拥有的疫苗是可部署并且是安全的。”

Azra Ghani is chair of infectious diseases at Imperial College London. She said the WHO guidance would hopefully be a "first step" to making better malaria vaccines.
阿兹拉·加尼是帝国理工大学传染病学系主任。她表示，世卫组织的指南有望成为生产更好疟疾疫苗的第一步。

She added that efforts to produce a second-generation malaria vaccine could receive help from messenger RNA technology. The drug company BioNTech recently said it would begin researching for a possible malaria vaccine. The company and its partner Pfizer made one of the most successful COVID-19 vaccines with mRNA.
她还表示，生产第二代疟疾疫苗可以借助于信使核糖核酸的帮助。生物新科技公司最近称其将开始研究一种可能的疟疾疫苗。该公司及其合作伙伴辉瑞公司利用信使核糖核酸生产了最成功的新冠肺炎疫苗之一。

I'm Caty Weaver.
我是凯蒂·韦弗。(51VOA.COM原创翻译，请勿转载，违者必究！)

The African Union's top health official wants to get the world's first approved malaria vaccine to African countries as soon as possible.

This comes one day after the World Health Organization (WHO) said the vaccine should be given to children across Africa to stop the spread of the disease.

John Nkengasong is the director of Africa Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He told an online news conference Thursday, "We will be engaging with GAVI (the vaccine alliance) and WHO in the coming days to understand first of all the availability of this vaccine."

He noted that by the end of 2021, malaria will likely have killed many more people in Africa than COVID-19 will have.

WHO recommends malaria vaccine

WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus called it "a historic moment" Wednesday after the health agency's advisory groups approved the use of a vaccine to fight malaria.

Dr. Matshidiso Moeti is the WHO's Africa director. She said, "We expect many more African children to be protected from malaria and grow into healthy adults."

The WHO said its decision was based largely on results from ongoing research in Ghana, Kenya and Malawi. The research followed more than 800,000 children who have received the vaccine since 2019. The WHO said side effects were rare, but sometimes included a high temperature that could result in temporary sudden movements called convulsions.

FILE - In this file photo taken Wednesday, Dec. 11, 2019, health officials prepare to vaccine residents of the Malawi village of Tomali, where young children become test subjects for the world's first vaccine against malaria.

The vaccine, known as Mosquirix, was developed by British drugmaker GlaxoSmithKline in 1987. While it is the first to be authorized, the vaccine is only about 30 percent effective. It requires up to four treatments and its protection decreases after several months.

But scientists say the vaccine could have a major effect against malaria in Africa. Most of the world's 200 million cases and 400,000 malaria deaths each year are in Africa.

Julian Rayner, director of the Cambridge Institute for Medical Research, said, "It's an imperfect vaccine, but it will still stop hundreds of thousands of children from dying."

Dr. Alejandro Cravioto is head of the WHO vaccine group that gave the guidance. He said designing a shot against malaria was difficult because it is a parasitic disease spread by insects called mosquitoes.

"We're confronted with extraordinarily complex organisms," he said. "We are not yet in reach of a highly efficacious vaccine, but what we have now is a vaccine that can be deployed and that is safe."

Azra Ghani is chair of infectious diseases at Imperial College London. She said the WHO guidance would hopefully be a "first step" to making better malaria vaccines.

She added that efforts to produce a second-generation malaria vaccine could receive help from messenger RNA technology. The drug company BioNTech recently said it would begin researching for a possible malaria vaccine. The company and its partner Pfizer made one of the most successful COVID-19 vaccines with mRNA.

I'm Caty Weaver.

Hai Do adapted this story from Associated Press and Reuters reports. Mario Ritter Jr. was the editor.

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Words in This Story

engage with –v.(phrasal) to give serious attention to someone

authorize –v. to give legal or official approval for something

imperfect –adj. having mistakes and problems; not without mistakes

parasitic –adj. living in or on another living thing to get food or protection; an organism that uses other living things to live often causing sickness

efficacious –adj. having the power to produce a desired result or effect

confront –v. to deal with or face a problem or a danger

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