health
Military requiring flu vaccines for recruits as Air Force base deals with outbreak
All branches of the U.S. military began once again requiring their recruits to get flu vaccines earlier this month, an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's decision to lift the military's vaccine mandate, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday.
TL;DR
- All U.S. military branches are once again requiring flu vaccines for recruits.
- This is an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's earlier decision to lift the military's vaccine mandate.
- Lackland Air Force Base is currently dealing with a flu outbreak, with 275 infections reported.
- The mandate for recruits was reinstated before the Lackland outbreak was publicly acknowledged.
- Exemptions allowing for mandatory flu vaccinations were granted to military departments in early June.
- These exemptions typically apply to vulnerable groups in communal environments and healthcare workers.
- The Pentagon stated the decisions were based on risk assessments to maximize readiness and safeguard personnel.
- Flu vaccines were first mandated for troops in 1945 and remained mandatory until Hegseth's recent order.
- The military has a long history of mandatory vaccinations dating back to the Revolutionary War.