By NewsDesk  @infectiousdiseasenews

U.S. Senator Roger Marshall, M.D. of Kansas on Friday called on the Biden administration to double down on efforts to ensure refugees are properly tested and held for diseases such as COVID-19 and tuberculosis as well as vaccinated from vaccine-preventable infectious diseases prior to being admitted into the United States.

This comes after Afghanistan evacuees arrived in the U.S. with measles and nearly 500 are slated to go to Kansas.

Vaccine preventable infectious diseases include measles, polio, mumps, rubella, and others.

“While we must show compassion to evacuees, we must ensure they are properly vaccinated against and tested for deadly infectious diseases that we have worked tirelessly to eradicate from the U.S.,” said Senator Marshall. “I applaud the Administration’s efforts thus far to administer necessary vaccines and testing to evacuees but encourage our CDC and DHS teams to remain ever vigilant as they continue to process those entering our country. Besides measles and COVID-19, I am particularly concerned about polio, as Afghanistan and Pakistan are the only two remaining polio endemic countries in the world.”

Measles case reported in Afghan refugee at Fort McCoy, Wisconsin