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CNN News:英国成首个接种新冠疫苗的西方国家 疫情下美国11万家餐厅倒闭

2021-01-04来源:和谐英语

This week the United Kingdom became the first western country to make a vaccine available to its citizens. It approved the shot made by American pharmaceutical company Pfizer, though the vaccine is still in it's trial phase. This is historic because researchers had been working on it for less than a year and experts say no other vaccine has ever been developed in less than four years. The first person to get the shot outside of a clinical trial was a 90 year old Briton named Margaret Keenan. Yesterday she received the first of two doses. An 81 year old named William Shakespeare, who goes by Bill, was the second person to get vaccinated.
Britain has ordered enough vaccines for about a third of its 66 million people. Not all the doses will be available immediately. Manufacturers still have to produce and distribute vaccines to the places that have ordered them. And not everyone who's eligible actually plans to get the vaccine. Polls have indicated that some members of the public have concerns about its safety and some question its necessity as more than 99 percent of people who contract coronavirus are estimated to survive it. Though the disease has been blamed for contributing to more than 1.5 million deaths worldwide.

The lockdowns, closures and restrictions related to coronavirus have changed life as we know it. One sector that's been hit particularly hard is the restaurant industry. The U.S. National Restaurant Association says more than 110,000 establishments or 17 percent of restaurants in America have gone out of business because of forced closures and limits on the number of diners allowed. It expects that 10,000 more restaurants will close in the months ahead. "To go" orders have made up for some of the lost revenue and organizations like Goldbelly can connect "mom and pop" restaurants to customers across the country. It's not cheap. A meal for four can cost diners anywhere from $80 to $180 but for the customers and the restaurants with the means it's an appetizing connection.