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The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) on Friday announced new travel measures for those coming to the United States from countries that have been hit with an Ebola outbreak. Starting next week, passengers traveling from Guinea and the Democratic Republic of the Congo will be redirected to six U.S. airports so the CDC can track and follow up with them.“ Airlines will collect and transmit passenger information to CDC for public health follow-up and intervention for all passengers boarding a flight to the U.S. who were in DRC or Guinea within the previous 21 days,” the announcement states. (Lonas, 2/27)

Canadian regulators on Friday authorized AstraZeneca’s coronavirus vaccine for all adults. It is the third COVID-19 vaccine given the green light by Canada, following those from Pfizer and Moderna. “This is very encouraging news. It means more people vaccinated, and sooner,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said, adding that the nation of 38 million people will now get 6.5 million vaccines in total before the end of March, 500,000 more now with the new approval. (Gillies, 2/26)

China has pledged to deliver 400,000 doses of Sinopharm’s COVID-19 vaccine to Afghanistan, Afghan officials said on Monday, in a boost for an immunisation campaign begun last week. “China’s ambassador to Kabul said in a meeting with health officials that his country would provide Afghanistan with 400,000 doses of COVID-19 vaccine,” Ghulam Dastagir Nazari, the health ministry’s head of the immunisation programme, told Reuters. (Sediqi, 3/1)

Currently, there is no treatment or preventive vaccine for Zika virus infection, but as the disease's prevalence has faded, so has global concern. To spur the development of Zika medical countermeasures (MCMs), the University of Minnesota's Center for Infectious Disease Research and Policy (CIDRAP), the University of Texas Medical Branch (UTMB), a task force of experts, and the World Health Organization (WHO) have created the "Zika Virus (ZIKV) Research and Development (R&D) Roadmap," a 10-year framework for optimizing research, diagnostics, therapeutics, and vaccines. In the roadmap, experts outline 14 strategic goals, such as ensuring research tools are available, identifying funding sources, supporting novel therapies, and promoting vaccine development. (mClERNON, 2/26)