The Pentagon appears to be walking back its voluntary flu vaccine policy, which Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth implemented this spring, after a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas reportedly impacted at least 222 recruits. Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell confirmed to The Independent Tuesday that exceptions to Hegseth’s policy have been granted, noting: “The decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations.”
“The Department remains committed to the health and readiness of our warfighters and civilian personnel,” he added. Though Parnell was light on specifics, officials told ABC News Tuesday that the Army, Navy and Air Force have reinstated mandatory flu vaccinations for basic trainees. And on Wednesday, a Navy official confirmed to the military news site Task & Purpose that the flu vaccine was once again required for all those enlisted in boot camp.
“Navy recruit training currently includes the Influenza vaccine as an exception to policy approved by the Under Secretary of War,” the official said.
Outbreak details and policy reversal
An ABC News report published last week found that the Lackland outbreak had led to the hospitalization of two recruits, while the death of a trainee at the base after suffering a medical emergency remained under investigation. The outbreak, which affected at least 222 recruits, prompted the Department to reconsider the voluntary policy.
Hegseth broke with public health directives when he made the flu vaccine optional for all U.S. military personnel, both active and reserve, in April. The vaccine mandate had been in place since 1945. “We’re seizing this moment to discard any absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our war-fighting capabilities,” he said in a video posted to X. “In this case, this includes the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.”
After drawing parallels between flu vaccines and those rolled out to curb the spread of COVID-19, he added, “The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member everywhere in every circumstance at all times ... it’s just overly broad and not rational.”
Impact on trainees and expert criticism
Since the policy change took effect, only about 40% of Air Force trainees have opted to take the vaccine, an Air Force official told The New York Times last week. Dr. Jeffrey A Linder, chief of general internal medicine at Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, rejected Hegseth’s claims in an interview with HuffPost, noting the decision “seems bizarre to me, from a moral standpoint.”
“Our service members give up a lot of freedom to be in the military, and so it’s particularly weird that this one thing is restoring freedom to the military,” he said. “Whereas we tell our soldiers and sailors and aviators where to live, where to go, what to do — we literally put them in danger of death.”
HuffPost reached out to representatives for the Pentagon and the Air Force for comment on the reports, but did not immediately hear back. The reversal underscores the tension between individual choice and operational readiness in military health policy.
