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GALVESTON, Texas — Almost a decade ago, scientists from Canada and the United States reported that they had created a vaccine that was 100 percent effective in protecting monkeys against the Ebola virus. The results were published in a respected journal, and health officials called them exciting. The researchers said tests in people might start within two years, and a product could potentially be ready for licensing by 2010 or 2011. 德克萨斯州加尔维斯顿——差不多10年前，加拿大和美国的科学家宣布，他们研制出了一种可以保护猴子不被埃博拉病毒感染的疫苗，百分之百有效。其研究成果被发表在了一本颇有声望的期刊上；卫生官员们曾表示，该成果令人兴奋。研究人员当时称，可能会在两年之内对疫苗进行人体测试；到2010年或者2011年，可能已经为疫苗产品获得许可做好了准备。 It never happened. The vaccine sat on a shelf. Only now is it undergoing the most basic safety tests in humans — with nearly 5,000 people dead from Ebola and an epidemic raging out of control in West Africa. 他们的话并未成真。该疫苗一度被束之高阁，直到现在才开始进行最基本的人体测试——此时，已有近5000人死于埃博拉，西非地区疫情肆虐，失去了控制。 Its development stalled in part because Ebola is rare, and until now, outbreaks had infected only a few hundred people at a time. But experts also acknowledge that the lack of follow-up on such a promising candidate reflects a broader failure to produce medicines and vaccines for diseases that afflict poor countries. Most drug companies have resisted spending the enormous sums needed to develop products useful mostly to countries with little ability to pay. | 
