世卫组建技术中心再造莫德纳新冠疫苗

要想早日结束新冠疫情，就要解决疫苗分配不均的难题。世界卫生组织先后在南非和韩国创建了技术中心，致力于再造莫德纳新冠疫苗，并通过技术共享提高低收入国家的疫苗接种率。

 

The World Health Organization is creating a global training center to help poorer countries make vaccines², antibodies and cancer treatments using the messenger RNA technology that has successfully been used to make COVID-19 vaccines.

世界卫生组织正在创建一个全球培训中心，帮助低收入国家使用mRNA技术研制疫苗、抗体和抗癌药物，该技术已成功用于制造新冠肺炎疫苗。

 

At a press briefing in Geneva on Wednesday, WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus said the new hub will be in South Korea and will share mRNA technology being developed by WHO and partners in South Africa, where scientists are working to recreate the COVID-19 vaccine¹ made by Moderna Inc. That effort is taking place without Moderna's help.

2月23日在日内瓦举行的新闻发布会上，世卫组织总干事谭德塞表示，新的中心将设在韩国，并将分享世卫组织和南非合作伙伴正在开发的mRNA技术。谭德塞表示，南非科学家正在努力重现莫德纳制造的新冠疫苗。这项工作是在没有莫德纳公司帮助的情况下进行的。

 

"Vaccines have helped to change the course of the COVID-19 pandemic but this scientific triumph has been undermined by vast inequities in access to these life-saving tools," Tedros said.

谭德塞指出：“疫苗帮助改变了新冠疫情的进程，但这一科学胜利被获取这些救生手段方面存在的巨大不平等所破坏。”

 

It's the first time that WHO has supported such unorthodox efforts to reverse-engineer a commercially-sold vaccine, making an end run around the pharmaceutical⁴ industry, which has largely prioritized supplying rich countries over poor in both sales and manufacturing.

这是世界卫生组织第一次支持这种对商业销售的疫苗进行逆向工程的非正规做法，从而在疫苗供应上绕过制药业。制药业在销售和制造方面大多优先向富裕国家而不是低收入国家供应。

 

Both Moderna and Pfizer-BioNTech, makers⁵ of the two authorized⁶ mRNA COVID-19 vaccines, have declined to share their vaccine recipe or technological⁷ know-how⁸ with WHO and its partners.

两款获得认证的mRNA新冠疫苗的生产商莫德纳和辉瑞都拒绝和世界卫生组织及其合作伙伴分享自己的疫苗配方或技术秘密。

 

WHO said the shared technology would hopefully result not only in coronavirus vaccines, but would also be useful in making antibodies, insulin and treatments for diseases including malaria⁹ and cancer.

世卫组织表示，这项共享技术不仅有望生产出新冠疫苗，还可能用于制造抗体、胰岛素以及治疗疟疾和癌症等疾病的药物。

 

WHO's chief scientist Dr. Soumya Swaminathan estimated that the attempt to recreate Moderna's vaccine would probably not yield any usable shots until late next year or even 2024, but said that timeline could be shortened considerably¹⁰ if the manufacturer agreed to help.

世卫组织首席科学家索米娅·斯瓦米纳坦博士估计，再造莫德纳疫苗的尝试很可能要到明年年底甚至2024年才能产出任何可用的疫苗。但她表示，如果制造商同意提供帮助，这一时间可能会大大缩短。

 

The global disparity in access to COVID-19 vaccines is enormous. Africa currently produces just 1% of the world's COVID-19 vaccines and only about 11% of its population is immunized. In contrast, a European nation like Portugal has had 84% of its population fully³ vaccinated¹¹, and over 59% of its people have also had a booster shot.

在获得新冠疫苗方面，全球差异巨大。目前，非洲仅生产了全球1%的新冠疫苗，只有约11%的人口接种了疫苗。相比之下，像葡萄牙这样的欧洲国家有84%的人口已完成了疫苗接种，超过59%的人还打了加强针。

 

Last week, WHO said six African countries — Egypt, Kenya, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa and Tunisia — would receive the knowledge and technological know-how to make mRNA COVID-19 vaccines. Tedros said Wednesday that five more countries would now receive support from the South Africa hub: Bangladesh, Indonesia, Pakistan, Serbia and Vietnam.

上周，世卫组织表示，埃及、肯尼亚、尼日利亚、塞内加尔、南非和突尼斯这6个非洲国家将获得制造mRNA新冠疫苗的知识和技术诀窍。谭德塞23日表示，现在又有5个国家将从南非中心获得支持：孟加拉国、印度尼西亚、巴基斯坦、塞尔维亚和越南。

 

Earlier this year, the Cape¹² Town company attempting to replicate¹³ Moderna Inc.'s COVID-19 shot said it had successfully made a candidate vaccine that will soon start laboratory testing.

今年早些时候，试图“复制”莫德纳新冠疫苗的开普敦公司表示，他们已经成功研制出一款候选疫苗，很快将开始进行实验室测试。

 

Scientists attempting to make Moderna's vaccine say there is more information about that shot in the public domain¹⁴ and it's believed to be slightly easier to manufacture than the one made by Pfizer-BioNTech.

试图再造莫德纳疫苗的科学家表示，在公共领域有更多关于这种疫苗的信息，据认为它比辉瑞疫苗的研制难度稍微低一点。

 

Zain Rizvi, research director at the advocacy group Public Citizen, welcomed the news, saying WHO's efforts will address the huge global demand for mRNA vaccines, which have proven to be arguably the most effective at curbing¹⁵ COVID-19.

维权团体“公共公民”的研究主任扎因·里兹维对这一消息表示欢迎，他表示世卫组织的努力将解决全球对mRNA疫苗的巨大需求，这种疫苗已被证明是遏制新冠病毒最有效的方法。

 

Rizvi said: "WHO is charting an alternative course that is more open and transparent¹⁶. But it still needs help."

里兹维说：“世卫组织正在规划一条更加开放和透明的替代路线。但它仍然需要帮助。”

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