美国斥资近20亿美元签上亿剂疫苗合同

据外媒报道，美国政府将斥资近20亿美元购买1亿剂由美国制药巨头辉瑞公司和德国BioNTech公司合作研发的新冠肺炎疫苗。这些疫苗可供5000万人接种。如果疫苗最终证明是安全有效的，美国可以根据该协议再购买5亿剂。

Small bottles labelled with "Vaccine" stickers seen near a medical syringe in front of displayed "Coronavirus COVID-19" words, April 10, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

The US government will pay nearly $2 billion to buy enough of a COVID-19 vaccine being developed by Pfizer Inc and German biotech BioNTech SE to innoculate 50 million people if it proves to be safe and effective, the companies said on Wednesday.

辉瑞公司和德国生物技术公司BioNTech本周三 The contract for 100 million doses of the vaccine amounts to a $39 price tag for what is likely to be a two-dose course of treatment.

这份疫苗合同数量为1亿剂，每人可能需要接种两次，每个疗程相当于39美元。

The contract is the most the United States has agreed to spend on a vaccine, although previous deals with other vaccine makers were intended to also help pay for development costs.

这份合同是美国购买疫苗的最高总价，之前美国与其他疫苗制造商的交易还包括帮助支付研发成本。

Pfizer and BioNTech will not receive any money from the government unless their vaccine succeeds in large clinical trials and can be successfully manufactured, according to a Pfizer spokeswoman.

据辉瑞公司一位发言人说，除非疫苗在大规模临床试验中获得成功并能够成功生产，否则辉瑞公司和BioNTech公司将不会从美国政府获得任何资金。

Under the agreement, the government would also have an option to procure an additional 500 million doses. Pfizer said the price for the additional doses would be negotiated separately if the US orders them.

根据协议，美国政府还可以选择再采购5亿剂疫苗。辉瑞公司表示，如果美国再次订购，价格将另行协商。

The vaccine, if successful, will be made available to Americans at no cost, although their health insurance may be charged, the US department of Health and Human Services (HHS) said.

美国卫生与公众服务部表示，如果疫苗研制成功，美国人将免费接种，不过可能需要医疗保险付费。

Pfizer Chief Executive Albert Bourla has said the company intends to make a profit on the vaccine. He has also said that spending its own money, rather than government money to develop the vaccine should help speed the process.

辉瑞首席执行官阿尔伯特·布拉曾表示，公司打算从这种疫苗上获利。他还说，花公司的钱来研发疫苗应该比花政府的钱更有助于加快这一进程。

A woman holds a small bottle labeled with a "Vaccine COVID-19" sticker and a medical syringe in this illustration taken on April 10, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

Pfizer hopes to start its pivotal late-stage trial of the vaccine as early as next week, pending regulatory approvals, Chief Scientific Officer Mikael Dolsten said in an interview.

辉瑞首席科学官麦凯·多斯滕在接受采访时表示，该公司希望最早于下周开始关键的疫苗后期试验，目前正在等待监管部门的批准。

“We’re already starting to the process of allocating vaccine vials to a variety of different clinical sites in the US and elsewhere,” Dolsten said. “We’re looking at the map and getting good advice from the CDC. Where do we have the greatest incidence of COVID-19 disease?”

多斯滕说：“我们已经开始将疫苗分配到美国和其他地方的不同临床地点。我们正在寻找合适的地点，并从美国疾病预防控制中心得到好的建议。哪里的新冠肺炎发病率最高？”

vial [ˈvaɪəl]：n.小瓶；药水瓶

Vaccine trials are more efficient if conducted in areas where high rates of active infection are prevelant.

如果在活动性感染率高的地区进行，疫苗试验将更高效。

The vaccine has already shown promise in early-stage small studies in humans, producing the type of neutralizing antibodies needed to fight the virus. In those trials, subjects received two doses of the vaccine.

这种疫苗已经在早期的小规模人体研究中显示出了积极结果，可以产生对抗病毒所需的中和抗体。在这些试验中，受试者接种了两剂疫苗。

The Pfizer/BioNTech candidate is one of the most advanced of over 150 vaccines being developed against COVID-19, which has claimed more than 600,000 lives globally and crippled economies.

这种候选疫苗是正在研发的150多种新冠肺炎疫苗中最先进的一种。新冠肺炎已经在全球夺去了60多万人的生命，并给经济造成严重影响。

The vaccine utilizes the chemical messenger RNA to instruct cells to make proteins that mimic the surface of the coronavirus, which the immune system sees as a foreign invader and mounts an attack. Although the technology has been around for years, there has never been an approved messenger RNA (mRNA)vaccine.

这种疫苗利用化学信使RNA来命令细胞制造模仿冠状病毒表面的蛋白质，免疫系统将其视为外来入侵者并发动攻击。尽管这项技术已经存在多年，但还没有一种被批准的信使RNA疫苗。

The Trump administration has agreed to spend billions of dollars for the development and procurement of potential vaccines under its Operation Warp Speed program.

特朗普政府已经同意花费数十亿美元通过“曲速行动”项目来研发和采购潜在的疫苗。

The aim is to produce vaccines that can end the pandemic by protecting billions of people from infection or severe illness, and governments have signed deals with drugmakers to secure supplies of various candidates. Whether any will succeed remains far from clear.

这样做的目的是生产疫苗，保护数十亿人免受感染或患上严重疾病，从而结束疫情。多国政府已与制药商签署协议，以确保各种候选疫苗的供应。然而是否有哪种疫苗会成功还远不清楚。

Other vaccine makers that have signed deals to receive US government funding for their efforts include Moderna Inc, AstraZeneca Plc and Novavax Inc.

其他已签署协议接受美国政府资助的疫苗生产商包括Moderna、阿斯利康和Novavax.。

Pfizer said it will deliver the doses if the product receives emergency use authorization or US approval as early as October after demonstrating safety and efficacy in a large Phase III clinical trial involving up to 30,000 subjects.

辉瑞公司表示，如果该产品在涉及3万名受试者的大型三期临床试验中证明其安全性和有效性，将最早在10月份获得紧急使用许可或美国批准，并提供疫苗产品。

Pfizer and BioNTech currently expect to manufacture up to 100 million doses globally by the end of 2020, and potentially more than 1.3 billion doses by the end of 2021, subject to final dose selection from their clinical trial.

预计到2020年底，辉瑞公司和BioNTech公司将可生产1亿剂疫苗，到2021年底可能生产超过13亿剂，这取决于临床试验的最终剂量选择。

On Monday, the companies agreed to supply the United Kingdom with 30 million doses of the vaccine candidate, but did not disclose a price.

周一，两家公司同意向英国供应3000万剂候选疫苗，但没有透露价格。

Pfizer shares were up nearly 5%, while BioNTech’s US-listed shares were up 13%.

辉瑞股价上涨近5%，而BioNTech公司在美国上市的股票价格上涨13%。