Two months ago, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended the U.S. military's decades-old mandatory flu vaccination requirement, framing the change as a matter of "medical autonomy." Last week, flu case counts at a major Texas training base climbed past 220. This week, the Army, Navy, and Air Force quietly received exceptions allowing them to require flu vaccination again for basic trainees.
As of June 26, 2026, more than 220 troops have contracted influenza at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, up from 160 reported just one week earlier. The 37th Training Wing, which trains more than 36,000 recruits each year, has been managing the outbreak for three weeks.
