VOA慢速英语--非洲科学家试图对新冠疫苗进行逆向工程

African Scientists Try to Reverse Engineer COVID Vaccines²

Young scientists in Cape³ Town, South Africa are working to reverse engineer the Moderna coronavirus vaccine¹. That means they will carefully study all the vaccine parts to see how it was made so they can make a similar product.

The World Health Organization (WHO) is supporting the effort. It is organizing creation of a vaccine research, training and production center in South Africa, along with a system to gather needed materials. The effort aims to make vaccine treatments available for the world's poorest people.

Emile Hendricks is a 22-year-old scientist for Afrigen Biologics and Vaccines, the company trying to reproduce the Moderna vaccine. He said, "We are doing this for Africa at this moment, and that drives us. We can no longer rely on these big superpowers to come in and save us."

Some experts see reverse engineering as one of the few remaining ways to deal with the power imbalances of the pandemic. The international organization People's Vaccine Alliance reports that poor countries have received about 0.7 percent of COVID-19 vaccines produced so far. The organization says wealthy countries have received almost 50 percent.

The United Nations COVAX program is working to spread vaccine supplies more evenly across the world. But so far, the effort has failed to ease severe shortages in poor countries. Vaccine donations are far fewer than need demands. And, drug makers⁴ have resisted international pressure to share vaccine resources.

The Cape Town center aims to expand access to the new messenger RNA (mRNA) technology that Moderna, Pfizer and German partner BioNTech, used in their vaccines. The WHO has never directly involved itself in attempts to reproduce drug products of private companies that object to such efforts---until now.

"This is the first time we're doing it to this level, because of the urgency and also because of the novelty of this technology," said Martin Friede. He is a WHO vaccine research coordinator⁵ who is helping⁶ direct the center.

Doctor Tom Frieden is the former head of the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. He says the world is "being held hostage" by Moderna and Pfizer, whose vaccines are considered the most effective against COVID-19.

The United States is demanding that Moderna increase its vaccine production for use in poor nations in exchange for the American financial support it received to develop the product. The worldwide shortage through 2022 is estimated to be between 500 million and 4 billion doses.

David Kessler is the head of Operation Warp⁷ Speed, the U.S. program supporting COVID-19 vaccine development. He said the U.S. government has been a very important part in making Moderna the company it is.

"They understand what we expect to happen," Kessler said.

Moderna has promised to build a vaccine factory in Africa at some time in the future. But some poorer countries refuse to wait any longer.

Petro Terblanche is Afrigen's supervising director. She said the company aims to have a version of the Moderna vaccine ready for testing in humans within a year.

"We have a lot of competition coming from Big Pharma. They don't want to see us succeed," Terblanche said. "They are already starting to say that we don't have the capability⁸ to do this. We are going to show them."

If the team in South Africa succeeds in making a version of Moderna's vaccine, the information will be publicly released for use by others, Terblanche added.

Mass production of copies of the vaccine could become a property law issue. Moderna has said it would not seek legal action against a company that violated its property rights. However, it also has not offered to help companies that have volunteered to make its mRNA shot.

Moderna leader Noubar Afeyan said the company decided⁹ it would be better to expand its vaccine production than to share technology. The company plans to provide billions of additional doses next year.

Words in This Story

rely – v. to trust in or depend on

access – n. the right or ability to approach, enter, or use

novelty – n. something new or unusual

Big Pharma – n. large pharmaceutical companies considered especially as a politically influential group

1 vaccine   

n.牛痘苗，疫苗；adj.牛痘的，疫苗的

参考例句：

• The polio vaccine has saved millions of lives.脊髓灰质炎疫苗挽救了数以百万计的生命。
• She takes a vaccine against influenza every fall.她每年秋季接种流感疫苗。

2 vaccines   

疫苗，痘苗( vaccine的名词复数 )

参考例句：

• His team are at the forefront of scientific research into vaccines. 他的小组处于疫苗科研的最前沿。
• The vaccines were kept cool in refrigerators. 疫苗放在冰箱中冷藏。

3 cape   

n.海角，岬；披肩，短披风

参考例句：

• I long for a trip to the Cape of Good Hope.我渴望到好望角去旅行。
• She was wearing a cape over her dress.她在外套上披着一件披肩。

4 makers   

n.制造者，制造商（maker的复数形式）

参考例句：

• The makers of the product assured us that there had been no sacrifice of quality. 这一产品的制造商向我们保证说他们没有牺牲质量。
• The makers are about to launch out a new product. 制造商们马上要生产一种新产品。 来自《简明英汉词典》

5 coordinator   

n.协调人

参考例句：

• The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, headed by the Emergency Relief Coordinator, coordinates all UN emergency relief. 联合国人道主义事务协调厅在紧急救济协调员领导下，负责协调联合国的所有紧急救济工作。
• How am I supposed to find the client-relations coordinator? 我怎么才能找到客户关系协调员的办公室？

6 helping   

n.食物的一份&adj.帮助人的，辅助的

参考例句：

• The poor children regularly pony up for a second helping of my hamburger. 那些可怜的孩子们总是要求我把我的汉堡包再给他们一份。
• By doing this, they may at times be helping to restore competition. 这样一来, 他在某些时候,有助于竞争的加强。

7 warp   

vt.弄歪，使翘曲，使不正常，歪曲，使有偏见

参考例句：

• The damp wood began to warp.这块潮湿的木材有些翘曲了。
• A steel girder may warp in a fire.钢梁遇火会变弯。

8 capability   

n.能力；才能；(pl)可发展的能力或特性等

参考例句：

• She has the capability to become a very fine actress.她有潜力成为杰出演员。
• Organizing a whole department is beyond his capability.组织整个部门是他能力以外的事。

9 decided   

adj.决定了的，坚决的；明显的，明确的

参考例句：

• This gave them a decided advantage over their opponents.这使他们比对手具有明显的优势。
• There is a decided difference between British and Chinese way of greeting.英国人和中国人打招呼的方式有很明显的区别。