强制免费接种新冠疫苗？澳总理莫里森改口

澳大利亚总理斯科特·莫里森先前表示，一旦新冠疫苗问世，将尽可能让所有澳大利亚人强制免费接种。但这引发了卫生专家和民众的不满。莫里森最近澄清了这一说法。

A chemist works at AstraZeneca's headquarters, after Prime Minister Scott Morrison announced Australians will be among the first in the world to receive a coronavirus disease (COVID-19) vaccine, if it proves successful, through an agreement between the government and UK-based drug company AstraZeneca, in Sydney, Australia, August 19, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

Australian Prime Minister Scott Morrison has back-tracked after suggesting vaccinations against the coronavirus could become mandatory.

澳大利亚总理斯科特·莫里森曾建议强制接种新冠肺炎疫苗，但现在他收回了这一建议。

Back-track[ˈbækˌtræk]：改变主意

Announcing a deal that could provide free doses to Australia's entire population, Mr Morrison had said there should only be medical exemptions.

莫里森宣布达成了一项可以让所有澳大利亚人免费接种疫苗的交易，并表示应只在有医疗豁免的情况下不接种。

But after concerns raised by health experts, he clarified: "There are no compulsory vaccines in Australia."

但在卫生专家表示担忧后，他澄清说：“澳大利亚没有强制性疫苗。”

Meanwhile, visitors to Australia may also be required to have immunisation.

与此同时，到访澳大利亚的游客也可能被要求接种疫苗。

Health Minister Greg Hunt said he "wouldn't rule out" making it mandatory for anyone travelling to Australia - including Australians returning to the country - if that was the advice from medical experts.

卫生部长格雷格·亨特表示，如果医学专家建议，他“不会排除”强制所有前往澳大利亚的游客，包括回国的澳大利亚人接种疫苗。

"It would seem passing strange if we had a massive vaccination programme in Australia but we were then to allow people in who could bring it in," he told A Current Affair.

他告诉《时事资讯》说：“如果我们在澳大利亚实行大规模的疫苗接种计划，但我们却允许那些可能携带病毒的人入境，这看起来会很奇怪。”

澳大利亚首个疫苗交易

The Australian government announced it had signed a letter of intent with pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca and Oxford University, which is one of five coronavirus vaccine-makers to have reached an advanced stage of clinical trials.

澳大利亚政府宣布，已经与阿斯利康制药公司和牛津大学签署了意向书。阿斯利康制药公司和牛津大学联合研制的疫苗是已进入三期临床试验的五种新冠肺炎疫苗之一。

Mr Morrison said if the trials were successful, he hoped the vaccine would be available early next year. "We will manufacture and supply vaccines straight away under our own steam and make it free for 25 million Australians," he said.

莫里森表示，如果试验成功，他希望这种疫苗能在明年初上市。他说：“我们将立即自行生产和供应疫苗，并免费为2500万澳大利亚人接种。”

He told radio station 3AW that he expected it would be "as mandatory as you could possibly make it", though his government was still forming its policy. "There are always exemptions for any vaccine on medical grounds, but that should be the only basis.

他对3AW广播电台表示，尽管澳大利亚政府仍在制定相关政策，但他希望这将是“具有最大限度强制性的一种疫苗。因为医学原因，任何疫苗都有一部分人有医疗豁免，但医学原因应是唯一的豁免依据。”

"We are talking about a pandemic that has destroyed the global economy and taken the lives of hundreds of thousands all around the world, and over 430 Australians here."

“我们现在谈论的是一种大流行病，它摧毁了全球经济，夺去了世界各地数十万人的生命，还有430多名澳大利亚人因此病逝。”

The country would aim for 95% of the population to be vaccinated, he added.

他还说，澳大利亚将力争使95%的民众接种新冠疫苗。

A medical professional administers a test to a member of the public at a pop-up coronavirus disease (COVID-19) testing facility, as the state of Victoria experiences a spike in cases, in Melbourne, Australia, June 26, 2020. [Photo/Agencies]

Vaccinations are not mandatory in Australia. Behavioural scientist Julie Leask told the Sydney Morning Herald it was "premature and unhelpful" to talk about mandating a vaccine for Covid-19 "when we don't even have a vaccine that we know actually works", and she warned of a possible 'backlash'.

在澳大利亚，疫苗接种不是强制性的。行为科学家朱莉·莱斯克告诉《悉尼先驱晨报》：“在我们甚至还没有一种已知真正有效疫苗”的情况下，谈论强制接种新冠疫苗是“过早和无益的”。她警告说，这可能会引起“强烈反对”。

Mr Morrison, in clarifying his position later, told 2GB radio station there would be "no compulsory vaccine but there will be a lot of encouragement and measures to get as high a rate of acceptance as usual".

莫里森之后澄清了自己的立场，他告诉2GB电台：“不会有强制疫苗，但会有很多鼓励措施，以获得像往常一样很高的接种率。”

Mr Hunt said they hoped to encourage mass take up of the vaccine with a range of "incentives and encouragement".

亨特先生说，他们希望通过一系列的“激励和鼓励”来让民众接种疫苗。

维多利亚州疫情暴发

The cost of supplying the vaccine to the whole population has not yet been fixed. Separately, Australia has also signed a deal worth A$25m with Becton Dickinson, an American pharmaceutical company, to supply 100 million needles and syringes.

向所有澳大利亚人供应疫苗的费用尚未确定。此外，澳大利亚还与美国贝克顿-迪金森制药公司签署了价值2500万澳元 Australia has recorded 450 coronavirus deaths, most from an outbreak in the state of Victoria.

澳大利亚新冠肺炎死亡病例达450例，其中大多数死于维多利亚州的疫情暴发。

Earlier this month, Victoria declared a state of disaster and imposed strict lockdown measures after a surge in infections.

本月早些时候，维多利亚州宣布进入灾难状态，并在感染病例激增后实施了严格的封锁措施。

It still has more than 7,000 active cases, but the number of new infections has declined in the past week.

该州目前仍有7000多名活动性病例，但新增病例在过去一周有所下降。