A worsening flu outbreak among recruits attending basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, began earlier this month while an Air Force request to reinstate a mandatory flu shot requirement axed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wound its way through the Pentagon bureaucracy, according to a defense official and a source familiar with the situation.
The outbreak “is getting worse” and has sickened at least 275 recruits since it began, Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, whose district includes Lackland, told CNN. The Air Force confirmed that a recruit there died in a military hospital on June 16 after experiencing a “medical emergency” a few days before, but it’s unclear whether his death is linked to the flu outbreak.
Around 60% of previously unvaccinated trainees at Lackland initially declined the flu shot during the vaccine requirement’s lapse, according to the defense official. The option to decline the vaccine was opened to recruits after an April order from Hegseth instructing Pentagon leadership to eliminate the flu shot requirement.
Hegseth’s order allowed for military services to request exemptions, but it was put into effect before those exemptions could be processed.
