原创 廖博士 廖博士国际新药快讯 昨天
As coronavirus pandemic worsens, health officials fear nationalization of drugs and supplies
随着冠状病毒疫情的恶化，卫生官员担心出现药品和医疗用品的个别国家占有。
MARCH 15, 2020
An allegation that the Trump administration tried to secure exclusive rights to the production of an experimental coronavirus vaccine in Germany has revived health officials’ concerns that countries worldwide might move to nationalize key supplies to respond to the growing pandemic.
2020年3月15日
一项关于特朗普政府试图获得在德国生产的实验性冠状病毒疫苗的独家权利的声称再次引发卫生官员的担忧，即世界各国可能会采取行动，将关键医疗产品独享，以应对日益严重的新冠病毒。
The allegation, first reported in German media and later echoed by the nation’s health minister, centered on the suggestion that the Trump administration sought to strike a deal with CureVac, a drug maker that is based in the city of Tübingen but that also has operations in the United States.
这一声称最早由德国媒体报道，后来得到德国卫生部长的回应，其核心是特朗普政府试图与总部位于图宾根市但也在美国有业务的药物制造商CureVac公司达成协议。
Exactly what the Trump administration was offering, and how CureVac responded, was unclear. A U.S. official denied the reports, and the company’s main shareholders — including the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — immediately made clear CureVac’s vaccine would not be sold to a single country.
特朗普政府到底给了药厂什么好处，CureVac如何回应，目前还不清楚。一名美国官员否认了上述报道，该公司的主要股东——包括比尔和梅琳达·盖茨基金会——立即明确表示，CureVac的疫苗不会单独出售给任何一个国家。
Nevertheless, the ugly episode underlined very real concerns that the coronavirus could prompt some countries to nationalize drugs, personal protective equipment needed by health workers, or vaccines when they eventually become available. Earlier this month Germany banned the export of personal protective equipment, and India moved to block the export of some essential drugs.
尽管如此，这一丑恶的事件突显出人们非常真实的担忧，即冠状病毒可能促使一些国家将药物、卫生工作者所需的个人防护设备或疫苗最终研究出来的时候归自己国家使用。本月早些时候，德国禁止出口个人防护设备，印度则采取行动，阻止一些基本药物的出口。
“Most countries have laws that are analogous to the Defense Production Act in the U.S. that allows the government to requisition stuff manufactured within their borders if it serves the purposes of national defense or national security — which is understandable,” Richard Hatchett, said the CEO of the Coalition for Epidemic Preparedness Innovations.“But what we do not want to have happen in this epidemic is to have vaccines be developed in the places where vaccines are currently developed and manufactured — which is mostly in developed countries — and then used exclusively in those countries.”
“That would be a disaster,” he said.
“大多数国家都有类似于美国《国防生产法》的法律，允许政府征用在其境内生产的用于国防或国家安全的物品，这是可以理解的，” 防疫创新联盟的首席执行官理查德·哈切特说“但我们不希望在这场流行病中发生的情况是，在目前开发和制造疫苗的地方——主要是在发达国家——开发疫苗，然后专门在这些国家使用。那将导致一场灾难”
There is precedent for such hoarding. During the 1976 swine flu scare — when it was feared a 1918-like flu pandemic was starting in the United States — President Gerald Ford declared there would be vaccine for every man, woman, and child in the country. Canada placed an order with American-based manufacturers, but shipments of the vaccine were blocked by the U.S. government. (In the end, there was no pandemic and the vaccine program was halted after a number of people who received it developed Guillain-Barré syndrome.)
这种囤积有先例。在1976年的猪流感恐慌期间，当人们担心类似1918年的流感大流行在美国开始时，杰拉尔德·福特总统宣布，美国将为每个男人、女人和孩子提供疫苗。加拿大向美国制造商下了订单，但美国政府禁止疫苗的运输。（最终，没有出现大流行，在一些接种疫苗的人患上吉兰-巴雷综合征后，疫苗计划被终止。）
The World Health Organization worked for years to ensure that developing countries would have access to H5N1 bird flu vaccine in the event the virus triggered a pandemic. Countries that produced flu vaccines or that had secured contracts for pandemic flu vaccine had to commit to donate one-tenth of their supply to the WHO to be redistributed to countries that had no means to secure their own.
世界卫生组织多年来一直致力于确保发展中国家在禽流感病毒引发大流行时能够获得H5N1禽流感疫苗。生产流感疫苗或获得大流行性流感疫苗合同的国家必须承诺将其供应量的十分之一捐赠给世卫组织，以便重新分配给那些没有办法确保自身安全的国家。
But when the H1N1 pandemic hit in 2009, the vaccine was difficult to produce. Countries didn’t fulfill their commitments up front and, by the time they donated vaccine, it was clear the pandemic was a mild one and developing countries no longer wanted it.For weeks, as this new virus has spread around the world, WHO officials have insisted that global solidarity is the only way to get through this crisis.
但2009年H1N1大流行时，疫苗很难生产。各国没有在流行的时候作出履行承诺。直到H1N1的传播变得温和，发展中国家不再需要疫苗的时候，发达国家才装模作样提出捐赠疫苗。数周来，随着这一新病毒在世界各地蔓延，世卫组织官员坚持认为，全球团结是度过这场危机的唯一途径。
重点词汇学习
1. nationalization.国家占有
2. exclusive right.独家权利
3. revive- To bring back to life or consciousness; resuscitate
4. nationalize.国家独享
5. strike a deal.达成协议
6. underline very real concerns.突显出人们非常真实的担忧
7. block the export.阻止出口
8. requisition.动词，征用To demand, as for military needs.
9. Precedent.先例
10. hoarding.囤积
11. Guillain-Barré syndrome.吉兰-巴雷综合征后
12. global solidarity.齐心协力
13. get through this crisis.度过危机
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關鍵字: 警惕 原汁原味的德系SUV 传染病
