[ti:Pfizer Vaccine Approved in Britain, Next up US, Europe] [by:www.51voa.com] [00:00.00]更多听力请访问51VOA.COM [00:00.04]Britain has approved Pfizer's COVID-19 vaccine for emergency use. [00:06.96]Developed by the American drug-maker Pfizer and Germany's BioNTech, [00:12.76]it is the world's first COVID-19 vaccine [00:16.24]to complete a rigorous and scientific vaccine development process. [00:22.56]China and Russia approved COVID-19 vaccines [00:26.84]without waiting for results from large trials known as Phase 3 trials. [00:34.40]Britain's Medicine and Healthcare Products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) [00:39.20]said it used a "rolling review" to study [00:42.56]as information became available from Pfizer during the trials. [00:48.80]The process permitted the agency to approve the vaccine [00:52.68]in a short amount of time. [00:56.20]The approval came just 12 days after Pfizer and BioNTech said [01:02.12]they were requesting emergency use approval [01:05.52]from regulatory agencies around the world. [01:10.12]Final results from the large Phase 3 study [01:14.04]found the vaccine to be 95 percent effective against COVID-19. [01:21.76]Dr. June Raine, the chief executive of MHRA said, [01:27.52]"The safety of the public will always come first." [01:32.52]She added, "And I emphasize again that this recommendation [01:37.44]has only been given by the MHRA [01:40.52]following the most rigorous scientific assessment of every piece of data." [01:47.72]British Health Secretary Matt Hancock [01:50.96]told the British Broadcasting Corporation that "help is on its way." [01:57.76]He added, "When this vaccine is rolled out, things will get better. [02:02.64]We will start that process next week." [02:07.56]The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) will meet on December 10 [02:12.60]to consider Pfizer's emergency use request. [02:17.44]The agency will meet again on December 17 [02:20.80]to look at American drug-maker Moderna's emergency use request for its vaccine. [02:28.20]Speaking on the U.S. television news program Good Morning America Wednesday, [02:34.12]Dr. Moncef Slaoui said he "would expect the FDA to reach a similar conclusion" [02:40.12]that British officials had reached. [02:43.56]In other words, he expects the FDA to approve Pfizer's request. [02:50.96]Slaoui is head of the U.S. Operation Warp Speed program. [02:57.32]The European Medicines Agency said it has received [03:01.20]emergency use requests from both Pfizer and Moderna. [03:07.04]The agency added its decision "could be issued within weeks." [03:13.48]British regulators are also considering another vaccine, [03:17.44]developed by AstraZeneca and the University of Oxford. [03:23.60]Britain said it would start vaccinating high-risk groups [03:27.84]using 800,000 shots from Pfizer's manufacturing center in Belgium early next week. [03:36.04]The treatment requires two shots, [03:39.20]which means about 400,000 Britons will receive the treatment this year. [03:45.88]Pfizer has agreed to supply Britain with 40 million shots of vaccine through 2021. [03:54.20]"Age is by far the single most important factor in terms of risk from COVID-19," [04:01.44]said Wei Shen Lim, head of Britain's COVID-19 vaccine committee. [04:08.24]In the United States, a government advisory group said Tuesday [04:13.00]that health care workers and older people in nursing homes [04:17.20]should be the first to receive the vaccine treatments. [04:22.28]The U.S. is expected to receive 40 million shots of vaccine [04:27.12]from Pfizer and Moderna by the end of this year, [04:31.24]enough to vaccinate 20 million people. [04:35.92]The speed of the rollout will depend on how quickly Pfizer and BioNTech [04:41.32]can manufacture the vaccine. [04:44.80]The drug-makers said they are adding another manufacturing center in Germany, [04:49.64]in addition to two already in Germany, one in Belgium and one in the U.S. [04:56.28]The Pfizer-BioNTech vaccine must be stored and shipped [05:01.04]at extremely cold temperatures of around minus 70 degrees Celsius. [05:08.32]Pfizer said it has developed shipping containers [05:11.60]that use dry ice to keep the vaccines cold. [05:17.04]The containers are also equipped with GPS sensors to follow their movements. [05:24.44]I'm Jonathan Evans. 更多听力请访问51VOA.COM