The defense secretary described the vaccine requirement, which he lifted in April, as an “absurd, overreaching” mandate.
A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said.
The outbreak at the base in San Antonio raced through an Air Force Basic Military Training wing, where new recruits sleep on bunk beds in open bays and share meals at large communal tables.
A trainee in his sixth week of basic training died after falling ill on Friday and being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, the Air Force said in a news release. It was not immediately clear whether the death of the trainee, Keon McDaniel, was related to the flu outbreak.
A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said.
The outbreak at the base in San Antonio raced through an Air Force Basic Military Training wing, where new recruits sleep on bunk beds in open bays and share meals at large communal tables.
A trainee in his sixth week of basic training died after falling ill on Friday and being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, the Air Force said in a news release. It was not immediately clear whether the death of the trainee, Keon McDaniel, was related to the flu outbreak.
A comprehensive medical review into his death is underway to determine the cause, according to the Air Force.
In the weeks since Mr. Hegseth’s vaccine policy took effect on April 21, only about 40 percent of Air Force trainees have opted to take the vaccine, which had long been mandatory, an Air Force official said.
In the aftermath of the outbreak, the Air Force issued an exception to the voluntary vaccine policy, requiring that all recruits at Lackland get flu shots — part of a broader effort to stem the virus’s spread.
Mr. Hegseth cast his decision to make the flu vaccine optional as a matter of religious freedom and medical autonomy.
“Under the disastrous Biden administration, this Pentagon waged an unrelenting war on our warriors on many fronts, including when it came to denying them simple medical autonomy and the freedom to express their religious convictions,” he said in a video announcing his decision in April.
He described the longstanding flu vaccine requirement as an “absurd, overreaching” mandate that had served to “weaken our warfighting capabilities.”
At the time, many lawmakers, including some prominent Republicans, expressed puzzlement and dismay at Mr. Hegseth’s decision.
“The reason it was mandatory was to enhance readiness,” Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said shortly after the new policy was announced.
“You know, you do give up certain rights when you take the oath,” said Mr. Wicker, who is an Air Force veteran. “It’s just part of it.” Image Senator Roger Wicker wearing a light suit, blue shirt and yellow tie. Senator Roger Wicker of Mississippi, the chairman of the Armed Services Committee, said the previous flu vaccine requirement was meant “to enhance readiness.”Credit…Tierney L. Cross for The New York Times
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s chief spokesman, on Thursday defended Mr. Hegseth’s handling of the vaccine policy, saying the changes were “based upon thorough risk assessments” designed to maximize the readiness and lethality of the force.
Air Force officials described the recent flu outbreak as “localized” to the basic training wing and said that medical personnel were monitoring and offering antiviral medication to trainees who were in contact with those who were ill.
“Once they are cleared by medical professionals, they will return to training,” an Air Force statement said.
When asked about the matter, a White House spokeswoman referred The New York Times to the Pentagon.
The flu outbreak highlights the risks of Mr. Hegseth’s and the Trump administration’s broader approach to vaccines and public health.
Some members of the administration, particularly those involved in public health agencies, have been critical of vaccinations broadly. While he has changed his tone since the spring, Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has a history of loudly questioning the safety and effectiveness of many standard vaccines.
Last summer he rescinded federal recommendations for all flu vaccines containing thimerosal, a mercury-based preservative that the anti-vaccine movement has falsely linked to autism.
President Trump once championed the Covid vaccine, during the initial months of the pandemic while he was still president in 2020. But he soon grew resistant to the mandates related to that vaccine, particularly as his base of supporters questioned its safety.
Despite his administration’s actions on both the Covid and flu vaccines, Mr. Trump received the two shots in October 2025 at Walter Reed Military Medical Center.
Since taking office, Mr. Hegseth has fought to ensure that troops who were forced to leave the military for refusing to take the Covid vaccine are able to return to service at their former rank with back pay and benefits.
Roughly 8,700 active duty and reserve troops voluntarily or involuntarily left the military after refusing to get vaccinated before that mandate was rescinded in 2023. As of last summer, 13 had been reinstated.
In March, Mr. Hegseth extended the deadline to apply for reinstatement to April 1, 2027.
U.S. military personnel are still required to get vaccinations for diseases including measles, mumps and polio. Others, such as the anthrax vaccine, may be required depending on risk and military occupation.
In April Mr. Hegseth encouraged troops to get the flu vaccine even as he was announcing the policy change to make it optional. “We will not force you because your body, your faith and your convictions are not negotiable,” he said.
This is why you don’t put a fox news host in charge of the military
Ok, you say that now but no one could’ve seen that having a talking head as the Secretary of War Crimes was a bad thing to do!!! No. One.
It’s never been tried before. It could’ve worked out tremendously!!!It’s just like having an egotistical narcissistic pathological liar and failed reality TV star as a president. No one could’ve known it was a bad idea to do that…twice. (FUCKING TWICE???)
Hey, maybe the first term of incompetence and blatant corruption was just a blip, and the second term would go much more super tremendouslier than the first.Other than Ronald Reagan then It’s not as if the american people had any knowledge that voting in famous idiots was a bad thing!!
(/s. Just in case)
Party like it’s 1918.
“Spanish flu” — the reason it’s “Spanish” is that Spain was neutral in WWI and wasn’t censoring its press like the combatants.
The flu was everywhere.
Yeah. The “Spanish” flu is actually a product of Kansas.
the virus itself, how it came to be is still a mystery. they suspected it was a recombination event between different strains of h1n1.
How surreal would it be if the farm run by a Kennedy?
deleted by creator
And yet it originated in kansas!
I would like to see his face and know his thoughts when he received the report that the readiness of an entire base was impacted this much by his changes.
“Some of you may die, but that is a sacrifice I am willing to make”
Why would he care? Why would he even read that report? Why would he even read?
Good! The LAST Thing we want is For our TROOPS to be READY and PREPARED to Defend the Homeland!
-Republicans who SUPPORT the Troops!
This but unironically.
performatively, to be exact.
My friend who served in Iraq I: “I leased my body to them, they gave me a card afterward telling me what they’d injected me with.” He died of gulf war syndrome, which the government ALSO gave him. Makes you stop and think… if today’s military are such pussies that flu vaccines make them get this soft, what happens when they realize what actual service is like?
Yeah, basic training is easily the most contagion spreadable places on earth other than freshman dorms. You’ve got people from all over the country and stuff them nut to butt 24/7 and people are gonna get sick. Hell, I got pneumonia in basic training. It’s insane to me that a vaccine against one of our most common sicknesses would be optional.
It’s insane to me that a vaccine against one of our most common sicknesses would be optional.
Well if it’s left up to pussies like Hegseth who love to do performative “masculine” bullshit, this is what happens.
he should leave off the smallpox and covid vaccine, TDAP, and chickenpox vaccine at this point. all these are quite severe in adults for unvaccinated.
Far more than freshman dorms. The people are from further and more varied places, there’s more of them in a room, and they’re under constant stress and aren’t getting enough sleep.
They’re also not fucking tho.
Suuuuure
There wasn’t any. You’re too busy/tired to even think about it.
If only there was some sort of safe, easy, trustable way to have avoided this. Alas…
Prayer?
Sure, if you want to half ass it by leaving out the hopes.
To hell with that. I’m taking Ivermectin. It cures everything!
I support anyone who thinks this is the proper course of action. Just remember that more is more when it comes to the ‘mectin. A.B.D.M.I, as my ‘Nan used to say, always be dosing more ivermectin. Kept her alive and kickin’ all the way through to her mid 30’s.
You have to be an especially committed anti-vaccine to risk the security of your own nation over a political stunt that MAGA will barely notice.
Ah, yes, deliberately allowing oneself becoming crippled is the mark of a true “warrior”. 🙄
Natural immunity advocates forget that you need to become ill to obtain it.
Hegseth drinks his own piss
The Bear Grills special is too top shelf for kegsbreath.
He wishes it was Bear Grylls’ piss.
Self inflicted or spiked?
which has alcohol in it.
Who could’ve predicted this???
Literally anyone.
100+years of flu pandemic history.
Can we allow Donald Trump also the freedom to “choose” which meds and jabs he wants to have? I’m sure he knows best for his own health.
They should make alcohol legal on base as well because sobriety is woke.
No surprise that the new recruits are the anti-vax morons. I’m so happy for this for them.
