Pentagon restores mandatory flu shots for all recruits amid boot camp outbreak

The Pentagon has said that boot camps for all the military services are once again requiring the flu vaccination for all recruits after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth , made the shot optional for the military at the end of April. The development on Wednesday was confirmed by a Pentagon official to the Associated Press and came amid a growing, weeks-long, flu outbreak at the US air force’s boot camp at Lackland air force base in San Antonio, Texas . That outbreak has sickened nearly 300 people. However, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not cleared for public release, maintained that the permission to mandate the vaccinations was unrelated to the outbreak. When Hegseth first announced the repeal of the flu vaccine mandate in April , citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom, he allowed the services to ask for exceptions – or permission to keep the vaccine mandatory – within 15 days of the rollout. The Pentagon official explained that the decision on those exceptions were being finalized earlier in June and the timing with the outbreak at Lackland was just a coincidence. Only 40% of the new trainees moving through the bootcamp at Lackland opted to receive the shot once it became optional, a source familiar with the situation told the AP. The base handles roughly 700 new recruits every week, according to Air Force figures, and the close quarters environment has long been recognized as being conducive to the spread of disease. …