1 . Flu is killing us. The usual response to the annual flu is not enough to fight against the risks we currently face, let alone prepare us for an even deadlier widespread flu that most experts agree will come in the future. Yes, we have an annual vaccine , and everyone qualified should get it without question. The reality, however, is that less than half Americans get the flu vaccines. And the flu vaccines we have are only 60% effective in the best years and 10% effective in the worst years. We urgently need a much more effective flu vaccine.
In the U.S. alone, seasonal flu can cause up to 36 million infections, three-quarters of a million hospitalizations and 56,000 deaths. We are not investing the resources needed to protect ourselves, our loved ones and our communities.
Why not? We haven’t been hit by a truly destructive widespread disease in a long time. So as individuals, we let down our guard as our leaders quietly defund and destaff the services we need to protect us.
The risk of continued foot dragging is huge. In a severe widespread disease, the U.S. health care system could be defeated in just weeks. Millions of people would be infected by the virus, and would die in the weeks and months following the initial outbreak.
The cost of preventing epidemics is roughly a tenth of what it costs to cope with them when they hit. In 2012, a call was issued for an annual billion-dollar U.S. commitment to the development of a universal flu vaccine. Six years later, the search for a universal vaccine remains seriously underfunded.
The simple reason lies in our collective satisfaction. As soon as headlines about the flu are gone, hospitals are emptied of flu patients, and school and workplace absence rates decline, we go back to business as usual.
Leading scientists and public health officials have the capability to keep us much safer from flu. They need your quick and decisive support to succeed. Your action today may be a matter of life and death for you and your loved ones.
1. The problem of the current flu vaccines is that _______.| A．they are not available every year |
| B．most Americans are not allowed to get them |
| C．not everyone is qualified for them |
| D．many people still catch flu after getting them |
| A．Hospitals cannot meet the needs of patients during flu outbreaks. |
| B．Individuals aren’t alert enough to the underinvestment in flu prevention |
| C．The leaders continue to drag the feet of the patients infected with flu. |
| D．Flu will certainly become a severe widespread disease in the near future. |
| A．Science is currently not so developed as to keep us safer from flu. |
| B．The death rate from flu is much higher than that from other diseases. |
| C．The general public is partially to blame for the neglect of flu prevention. |
| D．Developing a universal flu vaccine will cost more than dealing with flu. |
