Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

Key Points:

• The Army, Navy, and Air Force have reinstated mandatory influenza vaccinations for basic trainees following a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, which sickened at least 222 recruits and hospitalized four.
• The outbreak occurred two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth removed the decades-long flu shot requirement, calling the mandate “not rational” and framing its removal as “restoring freedom” to military members.
• One recruit died during the outbreak, though it is unclear if the death was directly related to the flu; only about 40 percent of new trainees at the base had been vaccinated when the outbreak began in early June.
• The Pentagon granted exceptions to the optional flu shot policy for key military branches after a comprehensive review, aiming to protect operational readiness and at-risk populations, and the Air Force plans to vaccinate all recruits at the Texas base.
• The US military has a longstanding history with infectious disease prevention, including early smallpox inoculations in 1777 and the first flu vaccine mandate in 1945, underscoring the critical role of vaccinations in maintaining force health.