Scores Fall Ill at Air Force Base After Hegseth Makes Flu Vaccine Optional

[demmiblue]

Source: NYT

A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said.

The outbreak at the base in San Antonio raced through an Air Force Basic Military Training wing, where new recruits sleep on bunk beds in open bays and share meals at large communal tables.

A trainee in his sixth week of basic training died after falling ill on Friday and being taken to Brooke Army Medical Center, the Air Force said in a news release. It was not immediately clear whether the death of the trainee, Keon McDaniel, was related to the flu outbreak.

…

In the weeks since Mr. Hegseth’s vaccine policy took effect on April 21, only about 40 percent of Air Force trainees have opted to take the vaccine, which had previously been mandatory, an Air Force official said.

Read more: https://www.nytimes.com/2026/06/18/us/flu-outbreak-air-force-base.html

[UpInArms]

1. Too stupid to know

just how deadly stupid can get

[Lovie777]

52. Very recent history................

shithole's 1st term - Covid.

One of my father-in-law's best friends refused the Covid shot believing in shithole and the republican party. Months later, he died from Covid but he did relate this "I should have taken the shot".

[RockRaven]

2. With great freedumb comes great culpability...

[perdita9]

3. Barrack conditions increase spread of respiratory illnesses

Flu, bacterial meningitis, etc. are famous for outbreaks among the military, college campuses and scout camps.

That's why colleges and the military require vaccinations. Scientists and doctors want to prevent death. The pro-lifers seem to court it.

[ananda]

24. I believe we all consider them pro-death!

It's a murder-suicide cult.

[Karasu]

4. And? This shit is what Republicans want. The regime can't blame it on anyone but themselves when the GOP

are the ones who mainstreamed this anti-vax bullshit to begin with.

The only problem is that their rejection of science and love affair with quackery pose an imminent health threat to everyone, including the military they (at least pretend to) love so much.

How the fuck does legitimizing anti-vax shit not count as undermining military readiness, anyhow?

[MoseShrute]

5. Sounds like a self-made major security issue to me

[Bo Zarts]

6. FAFO Redux

[JustABozoOnThisBus]

49. The leaders FA, the trainees FO.

So, no lessons learned.

[Bo Zarts]

58. I wish we had known the acronym FAFO when I was in Basic Training in 1968!

The crew they ride in their rowboat,
The captain he rides in his gig ..
It don't make a damn bit of difference,
But it makes the old bastard feel big.

[Sanity Claws]

7. This is late in the season for flu.

Makes me wonder whether it is something else.

[LisaL]

17. They are all in close proximity to each other.

Now majority of them are un-vaccinated. Late in a season, not late in a season, it doesn't matter. Whatever one of them has is going to spread around to the others.

[paleotn]

22. Possibly, but flu doesn't go a way...

People just spread out when the weather warms, limiting transmission. That's hard to do when you're cooped up with a bunch of guys during basic.

[littlemissmartypants]

25. Calendars are a man-made construct. Diseases, not so much.

[MissouriDem47]

8. I Got My First Flu Shot

I got my first flu shot at Lackland AFB in 1966. I'm still here so evidently it did me no harm.

[Martin68]

9. MAGA at work, weakening military preparedness.

[Jim__]

10. No one could have foreseen this.

From National Library of Medicine:

The American military experience in World War I and the influenza pandemic were closely intertwined. The war fostered influenza in the crowded conditions of military camps in the United States and in the trenches of the Western Front in Europe. The virus traveled with military personnel from camp to camp and across the Atlantic, and at the height of the American military involvement in the war, September through November 1918, influenza and pneumonia sickened 20% to 40% of U.S. Army and Navy personnel. These high morbidity rates interfered with induction and training schedules in the United States and rendered hundreds of thousands of military personnel non-effective. During the American Expeditionary Forces' campaign at Meuse-Argonne, the epidemic diverted urgently needed resources from combat support to transporting and caring for the sick and the dead. Influenza and pneumonia killed more American soldiers and sailors during the war than did enemy weapons.

[the nelm]

50. And the history of vaccination in the military goes back to the Revolutionary War.

"In February 1777, Gen. Washington ordered the mandatory inoculation of Continental Army troops against smallpox, implementing what historians consider the first mass immunization policy in American history."

https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/washingtons-war-against-smallpox-revolutionary-inoculation-campaign/

[Historic NY]

54. That happened right here where I live in NY

he even had a few local residents and officials that interacted with the army vaccinated. Dr Samuel Adams Jr. was the surgeon charged with getting it done. New recruits coming in were isolated from the rest of the camps population until they were vaccinated

[muriel_volestrangler]

11. Coming soon: Hegseth force-feeds Lackland AFB with ivermectin (nt)

[eppur_se_muova]

12. Way to protect the troops -- and keep them in readiness. A SecDef who does neither should be impeached.

Last edited Sat Jun 20, 2026, 03:36 PM - Edit history (1)

Of course, in a better world, Kegsbreath would never have been approved in the first place.


One reason the "Spanish Flu" of WWI was so lethal was that there were thousands of new recruits packed into crowded tents and barracks on US Army bases. Once the flu hit, it spread like wildfire, and young men's lives were consumed like tinder. That's what happens when there are no vaccines. That lesson has been repeated over and over, but the slow learners still don't get it.

[LisaL]

15. My feelings exactly.

How are they going to be ready for anything if a large number of them got the flu?

[eppur_se_muova]

19. If they can get close enough to the Iranian soldiers, they can cough all over them ...

... but they were probably vaccinated.



(or Venezuelan, Cuban, Greenlander, etc.)

[littlemissmartypants]

26. Got, carry, spread... die. Can they or anyone close to them feel safe when they are potentially vectors of harm?

[riversedge]

28. Sad to see US troops having the attitude of teenagers--ie. It can't affect me!!

[LisaL]

56. There was a reason that vaccine was mandatory before Hegseth

made it optional. A majority would not get vaccinated unless it's mandatory, and we can clearly see the outcome.

[chowder66]

13. Depleted weapons, sick troops, underfed ship personnel, an addled Prez and his numbskulls. What could go wrong!

[calimary]

29. Almost makes you wonder if the Russians or some other clever enemy

thought this up.

“Hmmmm… what might happen if we tried something like this on the Americans?”

Subtle but certain.

[LisaL]

14. It's almost like there is a connection between being un-vaccinated

and getting the flu.

[Figarosmom]

16. Who else here knew this was going to happen

And really want to scream I TOLD YOU SO?

[LisaL]

18. Anybody with half a brain?

[NoMoreRepugs]

20. The level of stupidity in the United States is increasing geometrically thanks

to Trumpism.

[SorellaLaBefana]

21. Pasteur would not be pleased ...

We have come So Very Far, and now, as a society, we wish to return to the per-Enlightenment days of ignorance and needless death.

40% of boots took the vax!? That is the result of decades of lies on 'news' programs and of schools being unable to teach science, or reasoning.

Even MILITARY Science is turning to crap: Force Preservation being one of the foundations of an effective military.

The ROMANS knew that, which is why had they sewage design regulations for even over night temporary encampments (which also required the construction of a temporary palisade from staves carried for this purpose). If given a choice, expect that a lot of Legionaries would have passed on doing any of that - especially as it might have to be repeated the next night, after a long days march.

The reforms of Gaius Marius had greatly reduced the use of slow and vulnerable baggage trains by having the Legionnaires carry more of their own stuff which typically ended up being 60-80 pounds of gear.

[paleotn]

23. This at a time when mRNA technology is creating a revolution in vaccines.

These are the things that make me want to beat my head on the desk.

[UpInArms]

55. My son, a mechanical engineer

Has a sign that says:

Science does not care what you believe

[Sane1]

27. Pete Sez.....

Drink more whiskey you sissies!

[vapor2]

30. The arrogance of this SOB

[Yo_Mama_Been_Loggin]

31. What a fucking dumbshit

Even George Washington inoculated his troops.

[BadgerMom]

41. Washington immediately came to mind when I read this.

I guess when the president is so phenomenally ignorant about history that he didn’t realize signing a treaty at Versailles might bring up echoes of the past, his SOD wouldn’t see a parallel to Washington‘s decision.

[COL Mustard]

32. There's a reason the flu vaccine was made mandatory after the Spanish Flu over 100 years ago.

Then this moron comes in and changes the rules, I'm not surprised at a major outbreak. He's really that stupid. And I'll bet he's gotten his vaccinations. He doesn't want to get sick.

[LisaL]

39. For all we know he is using ivermectin.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

33. MaddowBlog-Two months after Hegseth's regressive move, Air Force base faces major flu outbreak

Eight weeks after flu vaccines became optional in the armed forces, we’re already seeing the consequences of the Pentagon chief’s shortsighted policy.

Two months after Hegseth’s regressive move, Air Force base faces major flu outbreak
Eight weeks after flu vaccines became optional in the armed forces, we’re already seeing the consequences of the Pentagon chief’s shortsighted policy.

www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— NanNan🦋 🇺🇦❤️🇵🇸 🏳️‍🌈 👵🇬🇱🐾 (@nan-nanlovesme.bsky.social) 2026-06-18T20:55:48.657Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/hegseth-vaccines-air-force-base-flu-outbreak

While service members could voluntarily get a flu vaccine, Hegseth decided to reverse the military’s longstanding policy and end the requirement as a condition of service.

The change led to a variety of questions, including the obvious one: How long would it take before this misguided, regressive and unnecessary decision backfired on the armed forces? The answer, it turns out, is not quite two months. The New York Times reported:

A major flu outbreak has sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that U.S. troops would no longer be required to be vaccinated for the flu, defense officials said.

The outbreak at the base in San Antonio raced through an Air Force Basic Military Training wing, where new recruits sleep on bunk beds in open bays and share meals at large communal tables.

The Times’ report noted that one trainee in his sixth week of basic training died after falling ill late last week, although the exact cause of death is still under investigation.

The report added that only about 40% of Air Force trainees have opted to take the flu vaccine — a total that used to be 100%, because it wasn’t optional. In response to the outbreak at Lackland, the base received an exception from Hegseth’s policy and is now requiring recruits to get vaccinated......

The point is not to intrude on “medical autonomy,” a phrase Hegseth emphasized when he made the change in April. Rather, military leaders, during Democratic and Republican administrations, have long understood that readiness requires healthy troops, many of whom often serve in close quarters with fellow service members, here and abroad.

As The Atlantic’s Adam Serwer noted, “Nothing has killed more soldiers in the history of humanity than disease.” American leaders have wisely taken steps for generations to try to prevent this from happening.

It might be tempting to think officials at the Defense Department would see what happened at Lackland Air Force Base and reassess Hegseth’s mistake from two months ago. But that’s apparently not going to happen: The Pentagon’s chief spokesman told the Times that the department stands by the secretary’s decision

[pat_k]

34. If they don't restore the mandate, it will be FAR worse next year.

It's only been eight weeks, so it is primarily among new recruits that a large percent are unvaccinated. Next flu season, it will be service members across all branches and levels.

[LisaL]

38. Yes, of course.

There will be infections spreading around.

[Aussie105]

35. Nothing to see here!

Trump and Hegseth will just brand them as losers.

Culling of the herd through disease strengthens the herd, and all that.

[TomSlick]

36. The inmates are in charge of the asylum.

[Grammy23]

37. I remember quite well having the flu in 1977. I was in my twenties.

I was teaching a kindergarten class and fell ill in Feb. Valentines Day to be exact. I went to my doctor because I was so sick I knew it was no ordinary head cold. In addition, I was as weak as a kitten. My doctor informed me that I had the flu and I’d be sick for at least a week and to be prepared to stay home for that long. I thought he was exaggerating and figured I’d be up and around by the end of that week. In other words, three or four days. I was wrong. I was in bed sick as a dog for the full week. There was no Tamiflu or other drugs at that time. Just treat the fever and call him back if I developed other symptoms that could be treated, such as cough.

The following week I returned to my job because all the flu symptoms were gone. But here is the truth. I felt like a zombie and just moved slowly through my days, barely keeping myself upright. It took three full weeks for me to begin to feel like myself again. That meant a total of one month, counting the actual time I was in bed and the recovery period afterward.

Flu is no joke. Kegsbreath needs to enjoy a bout or two of the flu to fully appreciate what he brought upon those young people in training. They are far too young to fully understand what opting out of the flu shot was risking. He is not qualified to make that decision about to vaccinate or not. That is best left to medical professionals. Thank goodness for Tamiflu. I hope they had plenty of it to help those young recruits recover.

[Seinan Sensei]

40. Betcha dollars to donuts Kegsbreath made sure HE has been vaccinated

[dave99]

44. of course just like RFK Jr

[orleans]

42. only 40 percent decided to take the flu vax. maybe the 60 percent wanted to prove how tough they are, how maga they are,

how stupid they are.

damn!

[dave99]

43. Can't fix Stupid !

[patphil]

45. Lackland AFB is where new recruits come to get basic training. I was there in the suimmer of 1969.

I remember being on KP (kitchen police) duty there when we landed on the moon. They had us stop our work, and brought us all into the dining hall with monitors going so we could hear the landing. It was an amazing place for young recruits from all over the nation to get their first taste of military life.
The key words here are, "from all over the nation".
It's the perfect place for a disease to be propagated among the recruits. That's why they did the mandatory vaccine thing when I was there.
But stupid runs deep in the Trump regime, so we have unvaccinated recruits being exposed to a lot of people from all over the nation, some of which may be infected with various diseases.
These assholes haven't got a clue as to how to run our military.

[purr-rat beauty]

59. Basic was a great experience

Looking back I thoroughly appreciate the TI's and the base. Marching in formation with flashlights in the early morning was calming.

We had some colds at the beginning but no serious illness nor deaths (rip).

This is an absolute shame, this lack of awareness will be sabotaging battle readiness.

[patphil]

60. The 2 sergents in charge of our dorm were pretty nice guys. I could see they had to work at being hard asses.

Their job was to toughen us up; make men out of boys...pretty much a bullshit task, but they did the best they could.
I won't ever forget all the new, and strange experiences we had there. I cam from a small town in northern New York, where there was only one black family in a town of around 6500 people.
It was quite different in basic training, where I met black, brown, and Asian guys. This was my first real incursion into the world at large.
All in all, I would rather not have been in the military. A couple of my friends who didn't get that experience got a big head start on me as far as getting jobs and building a life was concerned, but I got an education as to the strangeness of military life.
One more thing, since this was 1969, the Vietnam war was a big factor in choosing to enlist in the Air Force. Not going to be stuck on a hill in the jungle waiting for the Vietcong to attack. As it was, all but 4 guys in my barracks at my tech school had at least a 2-yr degree in college.
Also, 4 guys from my high school died in Vietnam. What a fucking waste.

[KY_EnviroGuy]

46. Our progression to shithole status is right on schedule.

Makes one wonder what the case load data is for other military bases, including those overseas. I'm also curious to know if our soldiers are allowed to refuse other vaccinations such as DPT.

This stupid policy would make it more likely our troops could spread this and other communicable diseases into off-base communities as well. If they don't change this soon, I can see some military bases being in for a very nasty winter season.....

[Orrex]

47. It's almost like everything this administration does...

is intended to weaken, diminish, destabilize, and isolate the nation for the benefit of a hostile foreign power to whom Trump is deeply in debt.

Almost.

[Old Crank]

48. So much for operational readiness

I guess the goos news is that this is mostly basic trainees not people on full duty.

But still. Hopefully the fools in charge will change their idiot policy.

I doubt it.

[Bengus81]

51. I thought the flu all went away with Easter and the heat. Gosh...........

[Lovie777]

53. I'll bet that majority of the cult administration have taking their shots...........

[Blumancru]

57. I think this is deliberate

The intention may be to weaken and sideline the US in any way they can, while Putin reassembles (or at least tries to reassemble) the Russian Empire.
It may be an intention to reduce the world population. The resources of the world will last much longer with fewer people. AI is around to run a lot of the mundane things, so all of us will not be needed.
The future is shaping up to be a cross between The Handmaid’s Tale and Max Max.

[LetMyPeopleVote]

61. Hegseth is an idiot

[LetMyPeopleVote]

62. MaddowBlog-As Air Force base faces flu outbreak, military eyes exceptions to Hegseth's vaccine policy

There’s fresh evidence that military branches are starting to reverse course on the defense secretary’s misguided approach to readiness and troop safety.

Hegseth: We’re eliminating flu vaccine requirements in the military.

Army, Navy, and Air Force: Actually, no, we’re not.
www.ms.now/rachel-maddo...

— Steve Benen (@stevebenen.com) 2026-06-25T13:44:15.423Z

https://www.ms.now/rachel-maddow-show/maddowblog/flu-outbreak-air-force-base-hegseth-vaccine-policy-exemptions

In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth, on the heels of a brutal flu season in the United States, nevertheless announced a bold new idea: The Pentagon he leads would no longer mandate flu vaccines for those in uniform.

Two months later, the consequences started coming into view: A major flu outbreak sickened nearly 160 troops at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas. Days later, the Air Force confirmed that the total had climbed to 222 and included multiple hospitalizations.

Last week, the Pentagon’s chief spokesperson told The New York Times that the Defense Department would stand by Hegseth’s misguided decision despite the outbreak. This week, however, ABC News reported:

The services have already been given exceptions to Hegseth’s policy according to Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell in a statement provided to ABC News. As part of those exceptions to the policy, the Army, Navy and Air Force are once again requiring flu shots for basic trainees, according to officials.

If this is accurate, it seems like an important reversal — and an unsubtle acknowledgement that the beleaguered defense secretary has made a dramatic mistake......

The ABC News report, however, suggests the change isn’t just limited to one base: The shift applies to basic trainees across the Army, Navy and Air Force. The same report added:

With the new exception to policy, the Air Force has the goal of vaccinating all of the recruits in this recruit class and will vaccinate all new recruits arriving at the base according to one of the sources.

Moreover, the Army is preparing in the coming weeks to broaden that requirement to troops deploying overseas, first responders, child care workers, health care personnel, prison staff and soldiers taking part in certain large-scale training exercises, according to a service spokesperson.

The military, above all, is a deeply pragmatic institution. Hegseth, a former Fox News host, might have a culture war crusade to fight and ideological itches to scratch, but most military leaders are far more interested in solving problems than advancing assorted causes.

With this in mind, ABC News’ report added, “While the Pentagon sets policy for the military, the services and its commanders often retain broad discretion to adjust how those directives are carried out, whether to address safety concerns or work around bureaucratic hurdles.”

[travelingthrulife]

63. Remember these anti-vax fools crowing about how all of us taking

covid vaccinations would be dead in 5 years? Still here. Never got covid either.