尼日利亚近日被迫销毁超过100万剂已过期的阿斯利康疫苗。据报道，通过“新冠肺炎疫苗实施计划”从西方国家收到的疫苗运抵尼日利亚时仅剩4-6周的有效期，无法及时投入使用。在非洲，像尼日利亚这样收到西方过期疫苗的并非个例。刚果、马拉维和塞内加尔等国都面临类似问题。

 

Hoarding² of COVID-19 vaccines⁴ by some Western countries and providing nearly expired vaccines to Africa is immoral⁵, violates basic human rights and delays the end of the pandemic and global socioeconomic recovery, according to African experts.

据非洲专家称，一些西方国家囤积新冠疫苗，并向非洲提供接近过期的疫苗，这违反了基本人权，推迟了新冠疫情的终结时间和全球社会经济复苏的进程。

 

They made the remarks after Nigeria destroyed more than 1 million expired doses of AstraZeneca vaccine³ last week. The vaccine doses were donated by Western countries and had just weeks left on their shelf life.

在上周尼日利亚销毁了超过100万剂过期的阿斯利康疫苗后，非洲专家发表了上述言论。这些疫苗由西方国家捐赠，保质期只剩下几周。

 

In addition to Nigeria, countries such as the Democratic Republic of Congo, Malawi and Senegal also face similar problems of expired COVID-19 vaccines.

除尼日利亚外，刚果、马拉维和塞内加尔等国家也面临类似的过期疫苗问题。

 

"It is immoral and an outright⁶ violation⁷ of the basic tenets of human rights to use the continent of Africa as a dumping site for expired COVID-19 vaccines that are being donated by the Western countries," said Dennis Munene, executive director of the China-Africa Center at the Kenya-based Africa Policy Institute.

肯尼亚非洲政策研究所中非中心执行主任丹尼斯·穆内内称：“将非洲作为西方国家捐赠的过期疫苗的倾倒场所，这是违背道德的，完全违反了人权的基本原则。”

 

"The weakest link in the fight against COVID-19 are some of the developed countries in the West that have been overtly⁸ and covertly⁹ advocating for 'vaccine imperialism¹⁰ and nationalism'," Munene said.

穆内内称：“欧美地区的一些发达国家是抗击新冠病毒中最薄弱的环节，他们公然或暗地提倡“疫苗帝国主义和民族主义”。

 

Faisal Shuaib, head of Nigeria's National Primary Health Care Development Agency, told reporters last week that the destroyed AstraZeneca vaccine doses had been hoarded¹¹ by developed countries and donated to Nigeria when they were about to expire. Some of these vaccines arrived with about four weeks of shelf life left, he said.

尼日利亚国家初级卫生保健发展局局长费萨尔·舒艾布上周告诉记者，被销毁的阿斯利康疫苗是发达国家囤积的，他们在疫苗即将过期时将其捐赠给尼日利亚。舒艾布表示，其中一些疫苗的保质期还剩下四周左右。

 

Gerald Mbanda, a researcher and publisher in Rwanda, said the hoarding of the vaccines by rich nations, even when the Omicron variant¹² is spreading, is not only immoral, but also delays the end of the pandemic and global socioeconomic recovery.

来自卢旺达的研究人员兼出版商杰拉尔德·姆班达表示，即使是在奥密克戎变种传播的背景下，发达国家仍然在囤积疫苗，这不仅不道德，而且还推迟了疫情结束和全球社会经济复苏的进程。

 

While many rich countries are now administering booster shots to their populations, less than 9 percent of the whole population of Africa has been fully¹³ vaccinated¹⁵, according to the Africa Centres for Disease Control and Prevention. That is far below the World Health Organization target to vaccinate¹⁴ 40 percent of the populations in all countries by the end of the year.

许多发达国家目前正在强制民众注射加强针，而非洲疾病控制预防中心的数据显示，非洲只有不到9%的人口接种了两针疫苗。这远远低于世界卫生组织的目标，即在年底之前为所有国家40%的人口接种疫苗。

 

"Unless rich countries act humanely¹⁶ and share vaccines as well as provide patent rights for the manufacture of the vaccines in less-privileged countries, the war against the COVID-19 pandemic will be unnecessarily prolonged, as well as human suffering," Mbanda said. "No one will be safe until everyone is safe.

姆班达称：“除非发达国家采取人道主义行动，共享疫苗，并且向发展中国家提供疫苗生产的专利权，才不会无谓地延长人类经历的苦难和抗击新冠肺炎的战争。在所有人都安全之前，没有人是安全的。”

 

"By continuing to hoard¹ vaccines, the rich countries are contributing to making poor countries poorer, at the same time failing to stop preventable deaths," he added.

姆班达还表示：“发达国继续囤积疫苗，导致发展中国家疫苗更加匮乏，且无法阻止本可预防的死亡。”

 

Foreign Ministry¹⁷ spokesman Zhao Lijian called on Monday for countries to deliver safe and more effective vaccines to developing countries, including African countries, to make up the global vaccination¹⁸ gap.

（中国）外交部发言人赵立坚12月27日呼吁各国向包括非洲国家在内的发展中国家提供安全、有效的疫苗，以弥补全球疫苗接种缺口。

 

Some Western countries have hoarded excessive amounts of COVID-19 vaccines, resulting in huge waste, he said, adding that China will continue to honor its commitment to making the vaccines a global public good and providing them to developing countries in need.

赵立坚表示，少数西方国家囤积的疫苗远超自身所需，浪费严重。中国将坚持把疫苗作为全球公共产品，向有需要的发展中国家提供疫苗。

 

Munene said China has provided nearly 2 billion doses of vaccines to more than 120 countries and international organizations, making it the world's largest provider, and none of them have been near the expiration¹⁹ date.

穆内内称，中国已经向120多个国家和国际组织提供了近20亿剂疫苗，是全球对外提供疫苗最多的国家，而且没有任何一剂疫苗是濒临过期。

 

"Unlike some of the developed countries that are playing politics with the pandemic, China is committed to its pledge of building a community with a shared future for mankind," he said.

他说：“与一些利用疫情玩政治游戏的发达国家不同的是，中国致力于构建人类命运共同体。”

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