Shortages of flu vaccine are nothing new in America, but this year’s is a whopper. Until last week, it appeared that 100 million Americans would have access to flu shots this fall. Then British authorities, concerned about quality control problems at a production plant in Liverpool, barred all further shipments by the Chiron Corp Overnight, the U.S. vaccine supply dwindled by nearly half and federal health officials found themselves making an unusual plea. Instead of beseeching us all to get vaccinated, they’re now urging most healthy people between the ages of 2 and 64 not to. “This reemphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,” says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, and “the lack of redundancy in our system.”
Why is such a basic health service so easily knocked out? Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it. To create a single dose of flu vaccine, a manufacturer has to grow live virus in a 2-week-old fertilized chicken egg, then crack the egg, harvest the virus and extract the proteins used to provoke an immune response. Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year’s flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. As a result, the United States now has only two major suppliers (Chiron and Ave Pasteur)—and when one of them runs into trouble, there isn’t much the other can do about it. “A vaccine maker can’t just call up and order 40 million more fertilized eggs,” says Manon Cox, of Connecticut-based Protein Sciences Corp, “there’s a whole industry that’s scheduled to produce a certain number of eggs at a certain time.”
Sleeker technologies are now in the works, and experts are hoping that this year’s fiasco will speed the pace of innovation. The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures—a medium already used to make most other vaccines. Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way, but several companies are now pursuing this strategy, and one culture-based product (Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ InvivaC. has been cleared for marketing in Europe.
For Americans, the immediate challenge is to make the most of a limited supply. The government estimate that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last weekend. That’s nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year. In fact, many experts are hoping the shortage will serve as an awareness campaign—encouraging the people who really need a flu shot to get one.
1.Shortages of flu vaccine show that( ).
2.The word “cleared” (Line 5, Paragraph 3) might mean( ).
3.Private companies have little interest in producing flu vaccines because of( ).
4.From the last paragraph we can infer that( ).
5.According to the passage, which of the following is TRUE?
问题1选项
A.America relies too much on foreign suppliers
B.the demand of flu vaccines is high this year
C.quality problem is a serious problem in flu vaccine production
D.the supply of flu vaccines is rather weak and America has no back-up measures to make it up
问题2选项
A.permitted
B.remove
C.proved
D.produced
问题3选项
A.complicated process, high cost, low profit and high risk
B.shortages of fertilized chicken eggs
C.difficulty in growing live virus
D.fast changing of flu virus
问题4选项
A.the government hopes to solve the problem by way of volunteer restrictions
B.more than 47 million Americans who are qualified to get flu vaccine shots cannot get them this year
C.America has to deal with limited supply of flu vaccines this year
D.normally only a small percentage of American population gets flu vaccine shots each year
问题5选项
A.All Americans are persuaded not to get vaccinated this year.
B.The big problem in innovating flu vaccine producing technique is how to grow virus in a new way.
C.More flu vaccines cannot be produced in a short time because private companies refuse to produce more.
D.Flu vaccines are easier than most vaccines to produce through cell cultures.
第1题:D
第2题:A
第3题:A
第4题:B
第5题:B
1.推理判断题。由第一段“‘This reemphasizes the fragility of our vaccine supply,’ says Dr. Martin Myers of the National Network for Immunization Information, and ‘the lack of redundancy in our system.’ ‘这再次强调了我们疫苗供应的脆弱性,’全国免疫信息网络的Martin Myers博士说,‘我们的系统缺乏冗余。’”可知D项“流感疫苗的供应相当薄弱,美国也没有后备措施来弥补”正确。
2.词义题。由“one culture-based product (Solvay Pharmaceuticals’ Invivac) has been cleared for marketing in Europe. 有一种基于文化的产品(Solvay Pharmaceuticals的Invivac)已经获准在欧洲上市。”根据for marketing in Europe可以判断出应该是“得到官方批准和允许”。故A项正确。
3.细节事实题。由第二段“Why is such a basic health service so easily knocked out? Mainly because private companies have had little incentive to pursue it. 为什么这样一项基本的医疗服务如此容易被取消?主要是因为私营企业没有动力去追求它。”接下来作者介绍了复杂的生产工艺,“ Profit margins are narrow, demand is fickle and, because each year’s flu virus is different, any leftover vaccine goes to waste. 利润空间狭窄,需求变化无常,而且由于每年的流感病毒不同,任何剩余的疫苗都被浪费了。”故A项“流程复杂、成本高、利润低、风险大”正确。
4.推理判断题。由第四段“The government estimate that 95 million people still qualify for shots under the voluntary restrictions announced last weekend. That’s nearly twice the number of doses that clinics will have on hand, but only 60 million Americans seek out shots in a normal year. 政府估计,根据上周末宣布的自愿限制措施,仍有9500万人有资格注射疫苗。这几乎是诊所现有剂量的两倍,但正常年份只有6000万美国人寻求注射。”可知疫苗现有剂量只有9500万的一半,即4700多万。故还有4700多万有资格注射疫苗的人无法得到注射。故B项正确。
5.推理判断题。由第三段“Sleeker technologies are now in the works, and experts are hoping that this year’s fiasco will speed the pace of innovation. The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures—a medium already used to make most other vaccines. 更新的技术正在研发中,专家们希望今年的失败将加快创新的步伐。主要的挑战是将生产从卵细胞转移到细胞培养——一种已经用于生产大多数其他疫苗的培养基。”可知B项“创新流感疫苗生产技术的最大问题是如何以新的方式培养病毒”符合题意。A项“所有的美国人被劝说今年不要接种疫苗”与文中提到的“2-64岁的健康人群不用接种”不符。C项“因为私营企业拒绝生产更多的流感疫苗,所以更多的流感疫苗无法在短时间内生产出来”与文中提到的“疫苗生产操作的难度大导致生产商无法在短时间内生产更多流感疫苗”不符。D项“流感疫苗比大多数通过细胞培养的疫苗更容易生产。”与文中的“The main challenge is to shift production from eggs into cell cultures—a medium already used to make most other vaccines. Flu vaccines are harder than most to produce this way, 主要的挑战是将生产从卵细胞转移到细胞培养——一种已经用于生产大多数其他疫苗的培养基。用这种方法生产流感疫苗比大多数疫苗都难。”不符。