評論
打印
Business
商業版塊
Vaccines
疫苗
Strong medicine
強效藥
Drugmakers tell Donald Trump to cool his heels
制藥商讓唐納德·特朗普坐冷板凳
The world’s 7.5bn people want a vaccine for covid-19 as soon as possible. One person needs it by November 3rd. As President Donald Trump limps towards election day, he wants to report real medical progress against the disease. Earlier this year it seemed possible that one or two pharmaceutical firms might be able to obtain some sort of limited approval by the time Americans cast their ballots. That may still be possible. It is certainly desirable, given the pandemic’s toll on lives and livelihoods. But on September 8th, in an unprecedented move, nine global drugmakers, including AstraZeneca, GSK, Pfizer and Sanofi, announced a pledge to uphold scientific and ethical standards in the search for a coronavirus vaccine.
全世界的75億人迫切希望能盡快研制出新冠肺炎的疫苗。還有一個人在11月3日之前就需要這個疫苗。美國總統唐納德·特朗普步履維艱地邁近選舉日，他希望匯報對抗新冠肺炎的真正醫療進展。今年早些時候，特朗普的謀算是有可能實現的，到美國民眾投票時，可能給予一兩家制藥公司有限的批準。特朗普現在依舊可能得償所愿。鑒于新冠肺炎扼殺生命、損害民生，這當然可取。但9月8日，包括阿斯利康、葛蘭素史克、輝瑞和賽諾菲在內的9家全球制藥商采取了史無前例的行動，他們宣布承諾在研發冠狀病毒疫苗時堅持科學和道德標準。
The message is intended to reassure the public that the companies will not bow to mounting political pressure from the White House to rush through a vaccine without the proper safety and efficacy tests. But it is also a rebuke to the president, who has been politicising the drug-approval process—and eroding public confidence in the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). This could undermine trust in any vaccine that arrives, as sooner or later one almost certainly will.
這一信息旨在向公眾保證，這些公司不會屈服于來自白宮的政治壓力，不會在沒有經過適當的安全性和有效性測試的情況下，倉促推出疫苗。但這也是對總統的一種指責，特朗普總統一直在將藥物審批程序政治化，還削弱公眾對食品和藥物管理局（FDA)的信心。特朗普的舉動可能會使美國公民無法信任研制出的疫苗，相關的疫苗幾乎肯定遲早能研制出來。
