I believe that COVID-19 can be the last pandemic.
我相信新冠肺炎可以成为最后的大流行病。
I know that might be hard to believe while we’re still trying to get COVID under control. The last two years have caused unbelievable amounts of hardship around the world, and it’s not easy to feel optimistic when you’ve endured the misery that so many people have experienced. But whenever I see the suffering that COVID has created–every time I read about the latest death toll or hear about someone who lost their job or drive by a school that is closed—I can’t help but think: We don’t have to do this again.
我知道,这可能很难让人相信,我们仍在竭力控制新冠肺炎疫情。过去两年,世界各地经受了难以置信的巨大苦难,在和这么多人一样经受过苦难之后,乐观处世并不是件容易的事。但当我看到新冠肺炎造成的痛苦时(每当我读到最新的死亡人数,或听到有人失业,或是开车经过一所关闭的学校时),我都不禁会想:我们不必让这一切再次发生
This is something I’ve been thinking about for a long time, and COVID has only made it clearer that the world needs to prioritize eliminating pandemics as a threat to humanity. I’ve been following COVID since the early days of the outbreak, working with experts from inside and out of the Gates Foundation who are championing a more equitable response and have been fighting infectious diseases for decades. I’ve learned a lot in the process—both about this pandemic and how we stop the next one—and I want to share what I’ve heard with people. So, I started writing a book about how we can make sure that no one suffers through a pandemic ever again.
这是我长期以来一直在思考的问题,新冠肺炎只是让我们更加清楚地认识到:世界需要优先消除大流行病——它对于人类是一种威胁。从暴发之初,我就一直在关注新冠疫情,并与盖茨基金会内外的专家进行合作。他们倡导更公平的应对措施,几十年来一直在与传染病作斗争。在这个过程中,我学到了很多(关于这场大流行病,以及我们如何阻止下一次大流行病的)知识,并想要与大家分享。因此,我开始写一本书,关于我们如何确保不再有人经受大流行病的痛苦。
The book is called How to Prevent the Next Pandemic. You can read it on May 3, 2022, and it’s being published by Knopf in the U.S. and Penguin Random House internationally.
这本书名为《如何预防下一次大流行病》(中文名暂译)。在2022年5月3日你就能读到它。这本书由克诺夫出版社(美国)和企鹅兰登书屋出版(国际)。
In the book, I lay out the specific steps we can take to not only stop future pandemics but, in the process, provide better health care for everyone around the world. I outline the lessons we can learn from this pandemic, the innovations we need to save lives, and the new tools we need to stop pathogens early and equitably. I also tell you about my regular conversations with public health leaders like Anthony Fauci and Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, my view of the vaccines that are stemming the tide, and what it’s been like to become the subject of conspiracy theories.
这本书阐述了我们可以采取的具体步骤,这些步骤不仅可以预防未来的大流行病,而且可以在此过程中为世界各地的人们提供更好的医疗卫生服务。我概述了可以从这次大流行病中吸取的教训,挽救生命所需的创新,以及为尽早且公平地遏制病原体所需的新工具。我还会向你讲述我与安东尼·福奇以及谭德塞等公共卫生领导人定期进行的对话,我对遏制疫情的疫苗的看法,以及被阴谋论攻击的感受。
The goal of no more pandemics ever is ambitious, but the progress we’ve made over the last two years—including the huge leaps forward we’ve made with vaccines and the knowledge we’ve gained about respiratory illnesses—has already set us on a path to success. The world now understands how seriously we should take pandemics, and momentum is on our side. No one needs to be convinced that an infectious disease could kill millions of people or shut down the global economy. If we make the right choices and investments, we can make COVID-19 the last pandemic.
永远不再有大流行病这一目标雄心勃勃,而我们在过去两年中取得的进展(包括我们在疫苗和对呼吸道疾病的认识方面取得的巨大飞跃)已经让我们走上了通往成功的道路。世界现在明白了应该如何认真地对待大流行病,时与势在我们一边。一种传染病可以扼杀数百万人、并让全球经济崩盘,这绝非耸人听闻。如果做出正确的选择和投资,我们就可以让新冠肺炎成为最后的大流行病。
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