(MENAFN- The Peninsula) Top US health officials faced a grilling yesterday by lawmakers infuriated over the nation's fumbling response to the Ebola outbreak, as the Obama administration scrambles to contain the disease's spread.
Centers for Disease Control (CDC) director Thomas Frieden has become the most prominent target of the criticism, which has mounted as it emerged that a second Texas health care worker infected with the deadly disease was allowed to board a commercial flight despite reporting a low-grade fever.
Some lawmakers have demanded Frieden's resignation and others have accused President Barack Obama of a lack of leadership.
"The stakes in this battle couldn't be any higher," Tim Murphy, who chairs the House Energy and Commerce Subcommittee on Oversight, told a packed hearing with Frieden and other health experts.
"The trust and credibility of the administration and government are waning as the American public loses confidence each day with demonstrated failures of the current strategy," he added.
Murphy, echoing other senior lawmakers like House Speaker John Boehner and Senator Marco Rubio, said he had "ongoing concern that administration officials still refuse to consider any travel restrictions" on people from West Africa entering the US. Some experts and lawmakers warned that isolating West Africa could further strain its health care resources.
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