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This is the great hope: that even if it proves impossible to eliminate Sars-CoV-2 from the population, and even if the jab doesn't entirely prevent you from becoming infected with new variants of the virus, vaccination will still mitigate its effects, fatal outcomes will be averted, and society can slowly begin to open up again. As we do, transmission will rise, but hospitals won't be overwhelmed.
这是一个很大的希望：即使事实证明不可能从人群中消灭Sars-CoV-2，即使注射疫苗并不能完全阻止你感染病毒的新变种病毒，但接种疫苗仍将减轻其影响，将避免致命的后果，社会可以慢慢重新开始开放。正如我们所做的那样，感染病例还是会上升，但不会让医院不堪重负。
Clinicians everywhere are all nervous about what will happen if that loosening of restrictions occurs too quickly. Though death from Covid among the under-50s is relatively rare, it can still be a terrible, terrifying disease, capable of rendering its victims breathless and exhausted for weeks (and in some cases, months) after its fevers have run their course. One of my own patients, a nurse in his 20s, used to run 10km three or four times a week. The staff vaccination programme was too late for him: he caught Covid on the wards just before Christmas. Though he's now back at work, he still hasn't recovered sufficiently to be able to get back to running.
世界各地的临床医生都在担心过早解除隔离限制会发生什么。虽然50岁以下死于新冠肺炎的案例相对罕见，但它仍是一种可怕的疾病，能使患者在发烧结束后几周(有些情况下是几个月)都无法呼吸，精疲力竭。我的一个病人，一个20多岁的护士，过去常常每周跑三到四次10公里。员工接种疫苗计划对他来说太晚了：圣诞节前他在病房感染了新冠病毒。虽然他现在已经恢复了工作，但他还没有完全恢复到可以重新跑步的程度。
For the next six months, all my colleagues and I will be vaccinating as needed, as many hours as we're able to. This week I've been gladly trudging the streets in the snow, vaccinating our housebound patients, and there aren't too many still to go. In Scotland, the programme is anticipated to go on at least until 31 July, and the hope is that everyone over 50 will have had a first dose by May.
在接下来的六个月里，我和我的同事们将尽可能多地接种疫苗。这周我一直很高兴在雪地里在街上跋涉，给我们的居家病人接种疫苗，现在需要接种的病人已经没有那么多了。在苏格兰，该计划预计将至少持续到7月31日，并希望每个50岁以上的人都能在5月前得到第一次注射。
The numbers are daunting, but there's a spirit of anticipation and celebration in the air. Many are starting to dare to plan for a world post-Covid, and I'm tempted to share that optimism. Opening my first box of vials, I thought of a friend in Orkney, a GP who'd already vaccinated all the over-80s of his practice, and who'd begun to call in the over-70s. We met briefly in Kirkwall, outdoors, on my journey from Orkney back to Edinburgh. "How did it feel to get started?" I asked him.
感染人数令人生畏，但空气中弥漫着期待和庆祝的气氛。许多人开始敢于为后新冠时代的世界做计划，我也忍不住要分享这种乐观。打开我的第一盒药瓶，我想到了一个在奥克尼的朋友，他是一名全科医生，已经为80多岁的老人接种了疫苗，也开始给70多岁的老人打电话。在我从奥克尼回爱丁堡途中，我们在科克沃尔的户外短暂地见过面。“刚开始时是什么感觉？”我问他。
"I almost wept as I opened that box of vials," he said, smiling at the memory. "Each one was hope – pure, liquid hope."
“当我打开那盒药水瓶的时候，我几乎哭了，”他回忆起往事，笑着说。“每一个都是希望——纯粹的、流动的希望。”
