Pentagon restores mandatory flu shots for all recruits amid boot camp outbreak [View all]

Source: The Guardian/AP

Thu 25 Jun 2026 09.38 EDT
Last modified on Thu 25 Jun 2026 13.38 EDT


The Pentagon has said that boot camps for all the military services are once again requiring the flu vaccination for all recruits after the defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, made the shot optional for the military at the end of April. The development on Wednesday was confirmed by a Pentagon official to the Associated Press and came amid a growing, weeks-long, flu outbreak at the US air force’s boot camp at Lackland air force base in San Antonio, Texas.

That outbreak has sickened nearly 300 people. However, the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details not cleared for public release, maintained that the permission to mandate the vaccinations was unrelated to the outbreak. When Hegseth first announced the repeal of the flu vaccine mandate in April, citing “medical autonomy” and religious freedom, he allowed the services to ask for exceptions – or permission to keep the vaccine mandatory – within 15 days of the rollout.

The Pentagon official explained that the decision on those exceptions were being finalized earlier in June and the timing with the outbreak at Lackland was just a coincidence. Only 40% of the new trainees moving through the bootcamp at Lackland opted to receive the shot once it became optional, a source familiar with the situation told the AP. The base handles roughly 700 new recruits every week, according to air force figures, and the close quarters environment has long been recognized as being conducive to the spread of disease.

Recruits are exposed to high stress, low sleep, and close contact conditions for weeks. They typically sleep together in large, open rooms, shower communally, and conduct much of their instruction and inspections in close contact. The Lackland outbreak, which is now roughly three weeks long, has produced 275 confirmed cases of the flu, the Democratic congressman Joaquin Castro said in a social media post. Castro’s district includes part of the base on which the air force boot camp resides.

Read more: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2026/jun/25/pentagon-military-recruits-flu-vaccine-outbreak

The Air Force confirmed with my office that the flu outbreak at the Air Force Lackland Base in San Antonio is getting worse. There are now 275 confirmed cases.

— Joaquin Castro (@joaquincastrotx.bsky.social) 2026-06-24T19:48:25.305Z