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The best hope for ending the covid-19 pandemic is a vaccine. There is no shortage of candidates.
結(jié)束新冠疫情最大的希望就是疫苗。有不少候選疫苗。
The World Health Organisation is tracking 34 in various stages of development.
WHO正在追蹤34種處于不同研發(fā)階段的疫苗。
How well they will work, though, is another matter.
不過(guò)，它們的效果如何則是另一回事。
On September 9th AstraZeneca, a drug firm, announced it was pausing its trials after a participant fell ill.
9月9日，制藥公司阿斯利康宣布，由于一名參與者患病，他們將暫停試驗(yàn)。
Such pauses are common in vaccine development, a discipline in which effort does not always bring reward.
在疫苗研發(fā)階段，這種暫停很普遍，在這一學(xué)科中，努力不一定總能得到回報(bào)。
Despite much research, only an imperfect vaccine is available for dengue fever (it has limited efficacy and can cause nasty side-effects).
盡管進(jìn)行了大量研究，但目前只有一種不完美的登革熱疫苗可用（它的效力有限，并可能引發(fā)嚴(yán)重的副作用）。
In 1987 the first trial of an HIV vaccine began in Maryland. Three decades later, the cupboard remains bare.
1987年，第一次HIV疫苗試驗(yàn)在馬里蘭州開(kāi)始。三十年過(guò)去了，這一領(lǐng)域的成果仍然貧瘠。
The news about covid-19 in two new papers is more encouraging.
兩篇新論文中關(guān)于新冠的消息更令人鼓舞。
The first, written by a team of scientists at decode genetics, an Icelandic company, and published in the New England Journal of Medicine,
第一篇文章由冰島一家基因解碼公司的一組科學(xué)家撰寫(xiě)，發(fā)表在《新英格蘭醫(yī)學(xué)期刊》上，
reports antibody levels in 1,200 Icelanders who had been infected with the sars-cov-2 virus and recovered.
論文報(bào)告了1200名感染新冠病毒并已康復(fù)的冰島人的抗體水平。
More than 90% tested positive for antibodies twice—once immediately post-infection and again four months later.
超過(guò)90%的人抗體測(cè)試兩次均呈陽(yáng)性——一次是在感染后立即進(jìn)行的測(cè)試，另一次是在四個(gè)月后。
People who had suffered more serious disease, such as those who had been hospitalised, developed higher levels of antibodies.
那些狀況更嚴(yán)重的人，比如那些已經(jīng)住院的患者，產(chǎn)生了更高水平的抗體。
So did men and older people, both of whom are at greater risk of more severe illness.
男性和老年人也一樣，他們病情嚴(yán)重的風(fēng)險(xiǎn)更大。
The four-month lifespan is cheering for two reasons. Antibodies that hang around are more likely to offer immunity.
四個(gè)月的生命期令人振奮的原因有兩個(gè)。有抗體在就更可能提供免疫力。
That means a vaccine that provokes their production should provide reasonably long-lasting protection.
這意味著一種能夠刺激它們產(chǎn)生的疫苗應(yīng)該可以提供適當(dāng)?shù)拈L(zhǎng)期保護(hù)。
They are also easier to find. That suggests that results from population-wide antibody screening programmes,
它們也更容易找到。這表明，旨在繪制病毒傳播圖表的
which aim to chart the spread of the virus, should be fairly accurate.
全人口抗體篩查項(xiàng)目的結(jié)果應(yīng)該相當(dāng)準(zhǔn)確。
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