标题: Vaccination for Covid-19 接种新冠疫苗的重要性 [打印本页] 作者: Interpreter 时间: 2021-8-13 10:16 标题: Vaccination for Covid-19 接种新冠疫苗的重要性 回帖下载完整音频及双语文档：
When the vaccines for Covid-19 were approved this past winter, I think the whole world breathed a huge sigh of relief – finally, the end to the pandemic was in sight. But it’s been months since then, and while some social restrictions have lessened, we’re still in a pandemic. So, what gives? How long until things really get back to normal?
That actually depends on you. Well, not just you, but everyone that is able to get a Covid-19 vaccine, because that’s our best bet and fastest way out of this thing. A large majority of Covid-19 deaths in the United States are coming from those who are unvaccinated. You see, a pandemic doesn’t end until the virus is no longer widespread. And to slow or even stop it from spreading, a vast majority of people need to become immune.
Immunity can happen either by getting and surviving the illness or by getting a vaccine. In both scenarios, your body creates the antibodies necessary to fight it off. And once enough people have developed an immunity, we get what’s called herd immunity. This protects not just those who are immune but people who are unable to get a vaccine or are unlikely to survive the illness, like newborns or people who are immunocompromised. This is because, if lots of people are immune, the virus has less opportunity to spread, making it unlikely for those who aren’t immune to encounter it.
For everyone that’s doubting this is even possible, I want to let you know that we’ve seen this happen for diseases like measles, smallpox, and polio, where vaccines helped to establish a herd immunity and have either eliminated the disease completely – like polio and smallpox – or make it very rare – like measles. We’ve already been through things like this. It’s possible to beat this thing with your help.
The amount of people that need to be immune for herd immunity to work varies depending on how contagious the virus is, which is measured by how many people an infected individual can infect. For example, measles is very contagious, so it needs a high number of people to be immune for herd immunity to kick in – between 90 and 95% of the population. For Covid-19, estimates range from 70 to 90% of the population, though this could change if more contagious variants emerge. These high percentages are why vaccines are so important and why experts are strongly advocating for people to get a Covid-19 vaccine and not to rely on infection to become immune. Even if you’ve had Covid-19, they still recommend that you get vaccinated to increase your immunity.
In fact, herd immunity has never been achieved for any major infectious disease like Covid-19 without vaccination. If we didn’t have a vaccine, the virus would continue to spread, cause unnecessary infections and deaths, keep mutating, and become harder to control. So far, as of June 2021, world vaccination numbers are pretty low. In some countries, over 50% of their population has received at least one dose of a Covid-19 vaccine – the United States, for instance, just reached this number. But the majority of countries have a much lower percentage and worldwide, only 10% of people have gotten at least one dose.
So, if you are already vaccinated, thank you for helping us all get this pandemic under control. And if you are not vaccinated yet, please, please, please get vaccinated to help get the numbers up, stop the spread and mutations of the virus and get things back to normal.
