Airmen at Lackland Air Force Base train in 2018. The Air Force at the base in Texas is experiencing a severe flu outbreak among basic trainees. File Photo Courtesy of the U.S. Air Force.
June 19 (UPI) -- A major outbreak of flu has hit Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, less than two months after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth dropped the requirement for flu vaccines.
The disease has run through an Air Force basic training area, where recruits live in close proximity to each other, sleeping on bunk beds and dining together in open mess halls.
The 37th Training Wing, which is at Lackland, "has been managing a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training," the Air Force said in a statement.
Two sources told The Washington Post that about 160 have gotten sick. That division sees more than 36,000 trainees per year. The training wing is part of the 737th Training Support Squadron.
