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U.S. airmen and trainees have fallen ill after a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, according to a spokesperson for the military branch. The number of sickened troops could be over 200, according to a source at the base.
The outbreak comes less than two months after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ended the requirement for U.S. troops to receive an annual flu vaccine. In an April video announcement, Hegseth called the mandate “absurd” and “overreaching.”
“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,” Hegseth said.
Lackland is where Air Force enlistees go for basic military training. The sprawling facility cycles through tens of thousands of recruits every year.
The New York Times was first to report the news of the outbreak.
In the wake of the outbreak, the Air Force requested an exemption to Hegseth’s policy that allowed them to mandate flu vaccines at the base, according to a second person familiar with the details of the response.
The base has since started vaccinating people.
In a statement, an Air Force spokesperson described the outbreak as “localized” to the base’s basic training wing.
“Medical professionals and public health officials have implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation,” the spokesperson said.
“Medical personnel are also monitoring trainees who were in close contact with sick members in case they become symptomatic. Symptomatic trainees are receiving the appropriate care with antiviral medications such as Tamiflu,” they said.
In a separate statement, Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said Hegseth granted exemptions to his vaccine policy for all military departments to keep up with “critical operational realities.”
“The Secretary of War recently issued updated guidance on the influenza vaccination, stating that this vaccination is voluntary for all Active and Reserve Component Service members and Department of War civilian personnel, and directing the Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness to consolidate all requested exceptions to the policy,” Parnell said.
“The Department remains committed to the health and readiness of our warfighters and civilian personnel,” Parnell added.
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Texas Air Force base hit with flu outbreak infecting nearly 160 troops after Hegseth lifts vaccine requirement: report
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon was canceling what he called the ‘absurd’ requirement to get a yearly flu shot
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A flu outbreak has been tearing through a Texas Air Force base, less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would be ending its flu shot requirement.
The outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio has reportedly sickened nearly 160 troops, prompting the Air Force to temporarily require recruits there to once again get the flu shot, The New York Times reports.
“Over the last three weeks, the 37th Training Wing, in close coordination with the 59th Medical Wing, has been managing a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training,” an Air Force spokesperson told The Independent in a statement. “Medical professionals and Public Health officials have implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation.”
“Once they are cleared by medical professionals they will return to training,” the official added.
On Wednesday, the 37th Training Wing announced that Keon McDaniel, a basic military trainee from the 737th Training Support Squadron, died earlier in the week after experiencing a “medical emergency” and being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center.
“The cause of the medical emergency is currently under investigation, and a comprehensive medical review is being conducted to determine the facts,” the unit said in a statement.
It is unclear if McDaniel’s death was flu-related.
In April, Hegseth announced the Pentagon was axing the military’s policy of requiring the influenza vaccine.
Hegseth called the requirement and a prior policy of mandatory Covid shots for troops “absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our war fighting capabilities.”
“The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance at all times is just overly broad and not rational,” he added.
In the wake of the outbreak, the Pentagon defended the new policy.
“The decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations,” chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement to The Independent.
Outside of the military, the Trump administration has elevated vaccine skeptics to top positions, including Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., whose department has baselessly linked vaccines to autism, while sidelining vaccine advocates and seeking to shrink the childhood vaccine schedule.
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