An influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas has sickened almost 160 people in the past few weeks and might have even killed one person going through basic training. If it wasn’t already clear why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to eliminate the military’s universal flu vaccine mandate was an exceptionally bad idea, it should be now.
Hegseth announced the policy change in April, and since then, fewer than half of Air Force trainees have opted to get the shot. The vaccine does not provide perfect protection, but it reduces infections, lessens the severity for those who catch it and limits the spread. Last year’s version of the flu shot reduced the chances of falling ill by an estimated 36 percent, with even higher effectiveness among younger adults.
The Lackland outbreak offers unnecessary reminders of how disruptive the flu is in military settings. Members of the armed forces are often crammed into close living quarters and share meals at communal tables.
Through human history, more soldiers have died from disease than combat injuries: An estimated two-thirds of deaths during the Civil War were from uncontrolled infectious diseases. In 1777, George Washington mandated smallpox inoculation for all soldiers in the Continental Army to improve readiness.
When Hegseth announced the new vaccine policy, he claimed that “overly broad” mandates “only weaken our war-fighting capabilities” and stressed that his rollback would “restore freedom and strength to our joint force.”
In reality, his apparent motive was pandering to anti-vaccine elements inside President Donald Trump’s coalition. Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former trial lawyer who has profited from lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, continues plotting to make it harder for people to get immunizations. Never mind that Trump himself received the flu and covid vaccines last fall.
Fortunately, Hegseth’s changes this spring allow for individual branches of the military to impose narrower mandates in certain circumstances. In light of the outbreak, Air Force officials were granted an exception to Hegseth’s rule. That has allowed them to begin requiring recruits at the San Antonio base to receive flu shots.
The secretary cannot stop seasonal diseases like the flu, but unnecessarily ruling out ways to mitigate harm only degrades military readiness.
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