Who Plans Large-Scale Ebola Vaccine Trials In Africa By 2015 Tens of thousands of people in West Africa are expected to begin receiving experimental Ebola vaccines from January, but mass immunisation is still far off Travelers from Ebola-wracked countries ordered to fly into one of just five US airports as disease is now a top-10 issue for Americans Everyone coming to the United States from the three West African countries at the center of the Ebola outbreak will now be screened for the deadly disease at one of five airports, the Homeland Security Department said Tuesday. 'All passengers arriving in the United States whose travel originates in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea will be required to fly into one of the five airports that have the enhanced screening and additional resources in place,' DHS Secretary Jeh Johnson said. White House Press Secretary Josh Earnest told reporters that the new procedures will go into effect on Wednesday. The news comes as a new Gallup poll shows Ebola is now among the top 10 issues that Americans are concerned about. It is tied with the ISIS terror army and rates higher than terrorism in general. Earlier this month, Customs and Border Protection officers at New York's Kennedy, Newark Liberty, Washington's Dulles, Chicago's O'Hare and Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta airports started screening people arriving from West Africa. The screening includes using no-touch thermometers to determine if travelers have a temperature, one symptom of a possible Ebola infection. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is also working with DHS on the screening. There are no direct flights to the United States from West Africa. About 94 percent of the roughly 150 people traveling daily from West Africa to the U.S. arrive at the one of the five airports. The new measures are designed to catch the remaining 4 per cent. Johnson said his agency has 'in place measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days.' Asked why the new policy wasn't immediately put into place when the new screening methods were launched at the five affected airports, Earnest said Tuesday's announcement represented 'relatively creative policymaking.' 'The Department of Homeland Security had to work with airlines' to reach an agreement to 'funnel' passengers to a limited number of entry points, he said. 'There is a lot of coordination that had to go into developing and implementing this policy.' DHS, he added, now has 'measures to identify and screen anyone at all land, sea and air ports of entry into the United States who we have reason to believe has been present in Liberia, Sierra Leone or Guinea in the preceding 21 days.' Concerns about travelers infected with Ebola have risen since a Liberian man traveled from the region to Dallas last month. Thomas Eric Duncan became the first person in the United States diagnosed with Ebola, a few days after arriving from West Africa. He died on Oct. 8. Since then, two nurses who helped care for him have also been diagnosed with Ebola. Some members of Congress have urged President Barack Obama to ban all travel from West Africa. Tuesday, House Judiciary Committee Chairman Bob Goodlatte, a Virginia Republican, praised the expansion of airport screening but again urged Obama to halt all travel from the region. 'President Obama has a real solution at his disposal under current law and can use it at any time to temporarily ban foreign nationals from entering the United States from Ebola-ravaged countries,' Goodlatte said. Sen. Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, described the move as an 'added layer of protection against Ebola entering our country.'

• published: 22 Oct 2014
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