06 新冠疫情导致常规儿童疫苗接种率下降
世卫组织和联合国儿童基金会公布的数据显示，因新冠疫情扰乱卫生服务，去年全球至少有2300万儿童错过了常规疫苗接种。
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全文共532个词，by Hannah Kuchler in London
The Covid-19 pandemic has led to huge drops in childhood vaccinations, leaving countries more vulnerable to disease outbreaks, the World Health Organization has warned.
世界卫生组织（WHO）警告称，新型冠状病毒肺炎（COVID-19，即2019冠状病毒病）疫情已导致儿童疫苗接种率大幅下降，使相关疾病更容易在各国爆发。
At least 23m children worldwide missed out on routine jabs last year as health services were disrupted, according to data from the WHO and Unicef. Vaccination rates fell in most countries, the data show, with south-east Asia and the eastern Mediterranean regions the most badly affected.
世卫组织和联合国儿童基金会（UNICEF）公布的数据显示，因新冠疫情扰乱卫生服务，去年全球至少有2300万儿童错过了常规疫苗接种。数据显示，大多数国家的儿童疫苗接种率都有所下降，东南亚和东地中海地区受到的影响最大。
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In India last year, more than 3m children did not receive their first dose of the diphtheria, pertussis and tetanus combined vaccine, up from 1.4m who did not get jabbed in 2019.
在印度，去年有超过300万儿童没有接种第一剂百白破三联疫苗（DPT），而2019年未能接种该疫苗的儿童人数为140万。
Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, the WHO director-general, called for more investment in childhood vaccination, warning that multiple disease outbreaks would be “catastrophic”for communities already battling coronavirus.
世卫组织总干事谭德塞（Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus）呼吁加大对儿童疫苗接种的投资，并警告称，对那些已经在与新冠疫情作斗争的社区而言，多种疾病的爆发将是“灾难性的”。
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“Even as countries clamour to get their hands on Covid-19 vaccines, we have gone backwards on other vaccinations, leaving children at risk from devastating but preventable diseases like measles, polio or meningitis,” he said.
他说：“恰恰在各国争着要获得新冠疫苗的时候，我们在其他疫苗接种方面出现了倒退，使儿童面临麻疹、小儿麻痹症或脑膜炎等灾难性但可预防的疾病的风险。”
Public health experts are concerned that the pandemic has disrupted preventive medicine for infectious diseases and delayed treatment of chronic conditions, from cancer to cardiovascular problems.
公共卫生专家担心，新冠疫情扰乱了其他传染性疾病的防治，耽搁了从癌症到心血管疾病等慢性病的治疗。
Healthcare systems have struggled to cope with floods of Covid patients, supply chains have been disrupted by lockdowns and some patients have been reluctant to seek care,fearing they would be infected by the virus.
新冠患者的大量涌入已令各国医疗系统不堪重负，供应链因封锁而中断，一些患者因担心感染新冠病毒而不愿就医。
While developed countries with greater access to Covid vaccines are trying to put their healthcare programmes back on track, the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities in healthcare. The two agencies said up to 17m children — mostly in communities affected by conflict, in remote areas or informal slum settings — were likely not to have received a single vaccine during the year.
虽然能够拿到更多新冠疫苗的发达国家正在努力让本国的医疗服务重回正轨，但新冠疫情加剧了医疗资源分配方面的不平等。上述两个机构表示，去年一年，有多达1700万儿童可能连一剂疫苗都没接种过，他们大多数生活在受冲突影响的社区、偏远地区或贫民窟。
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Henrietta Fore, Unicef’s executive director, said that even before the pandemic, there were“worrying signs” the world was losing ground in the fight to immunise children. In 2018,more than 140,000 people, most under the age of five, died from measles as cases surged,particularly in the Democratic Republic of Congo, Liberia, Madagascar, Somalia and Ukraine.
联合国儿童基金会执行主任亨丽埃塔·福尔（Henrietta Fore）表示，甚至在新冠疫情爆发前，就有“令人担忧的迹象”表明，世界正在为儿童接种疫苗的斗争中节节败退。2018年，随着麻疹病例激增，超过14万人死于麻疹，其中大多数是5岁以下儿童，尤其是在刚果民主共和国、利比里亚、马达加斯加、索马里和乌克兰。
The WHO estimates 95 per cent of children worldwide need to be vaccinated against measles to prevent such outbreaks — but vaccination rates have stalled at about 86 per cent.
世卫组织估计，要防止此类疫情爆发，需要全世界95%的儿童接种麻疹疫苗——但儿童麻疹疫苗的接种率一直停滞在86%左右。
“The pandemic has made a bad situation worse. With the equitable distribution of Covid 19 vaccines at the forefront of everyone’ s minds, we must remember that vaccine distribution has always been inequitable, but it does not have to be,” she said.
她说：“新冠疫情使糟糕的情况变得更糟。随着新冠疫苗的公平分配成为每个人首要关心的事项，我们必须记住，疫苗分配一直是不公平的，但情况并非必须如此。”
Vaccination rates may have also been affected by misinformation, especially in the Americas, the two agencies said. In the US this week, Tennessee halted outreach to persuade teenagers to have vaccines, after a rightwing backlash against a campaign to promote the Covid shot.
上述两个机构表示，疫苗接种率下降也可能受到了错误信息的影响，尤其是在美洲地区。在美国，田纳西州本周暂停了劝说青少年接种疫苗的活动，原因是此前右翼人士对宣传接种新冠疫苗的活动发起了抵制。
Seth Berkley, chief executive of the vaccines alliance Gavi, said the “alarming numbers”suggest “unravelling years of progress”.
全球疫苗免疫联盟（GAVI）首席执行官塞思·伯克利（Seth Berkley）表示，这些“触目惊心的数字”表明“多年来取得的进展正在瓦解”。
“This is a wake-up call: we cannot allow a legacy of Covid-19 to be the resurgence of measles, polio and other killers,” he said.
他说：“这是一记警钟：我们不能为了抗击新冠疫情而让麻疹、小儿麻痹症等其他致命疾病死灰复燃。”