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After more than 100 recruits have come down with the flu at a Texas Air Force base, the agency is reinstating its flu shot requirement.
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Two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended the military's flu shot requirement
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the Air Force is now dealing with a major outbreak at its largest basic training base
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Nearly 160 trainees have been sickened by the flu at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas
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the primary training center for new Air Force and Space Force recruits
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The New York Times was first to report the spread through a basic training unit
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where recruits live in close quarters, sleep in open bays, and eat together in large dining
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facilities. It comes less than two months after Hegseth scrapped the military's long-standing
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flu vaccine requirement and made the shot voluntary. Here's what he said in April
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Our new policy is simple. If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation
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believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it. You
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shouldn't. But we will not force you because your body, your faith and your convictions are not
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negotiable, your health. It's common sense. It's the kind of common sense approach we're
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undertaking in this department. Since that policy took effect, only about 40 percent of Air Force
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trainees have chosen to get the vaccine. Now the Air Force is making an exception. Officials have
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reinstated a flu shot requirement for all new recruits at Lackland, while medical teams work
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to contain the outbreak. The Air Force says trainees who are sick are being isolated and
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treated with antiviral medication. The Pentagon defended the policy change, saying, quote
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the decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize
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operational readiness, lethality, and force generation while safeguarding at-risk populations
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