Governor Bill Haslam
Lamar Alexander
This photo provided by the CDC shows an ebola Virus.NASHVILLE - Tennessee Gov. Bill Haslam said Tuesday that although state officials continue to monitor the situation, his administration has no immediate plans to go beyond federal Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines with regard to quarantines for possible Ebola cases.
Also Tuesday, Republican U.S. Sen. Lamar Alexander said he will introduce a bill with Iowa Sen. Tom Harkin to help speed the development of Ebola treatments and vaccines.
Governors of states such as Georgia, New York and New Jersey, which are home to international airports through which recent travelers from Ebola-stricken Liberia, New Guinea and Sierra are being funneled, have declared guidelines going beyond revised CDC recommendations.
None of the five airports are located in Tennessee.
Haslam, a Republican, said he has discussed the situation with his health commissioner, Dr. John Dreyzehner.
"He [Dreyzehner] is comfortable right now with the CDC's recommendations," Haslam told reporters following a Nashville news conference where the National Federation of Independent Businesses-Tennessee endorsed him. "We obviously will stay kind of tuned in as the situation develops."
While state has seen several Ebola scares, Haslam emphasized, "right now we don't have any cases in Tennessee."
"Until we know or something causes us to do that, I don't know why we would go further" than the CDC recommendations, Haslam said.
Republican Gov. Nathan Deal of Georgia on Monday announced guidelines allowing health officials to quarantine "high-risk" travelers from west Africa coming into Hartsfield International Airport "with known direct exposure to an Ebola patients."
Meanwhile, Alexander said his bill with Harkin is designed to add Ebola to FDA's priority review "voucher" program, a which is designed to push development of new drugs for neglected tropical diseases.
Ebola is not considered a qualifying disease now, but the bill would change that immediately.
Alexander and Harkin called the move "a step that should be taken given that we need our full arsenal of tools at work."
"The world is in desperate need of a vaccine to prevent Ebola and a drug to treat it," Alexander said in a news release.
Alexander has hosted Ebola fact-finding roundtables in Memphis and Nashville and will hold a third event Friday in Chattanooga to learn more about the Ebola threat and Tennessee preparedness.