Home · Health · Jun 24 archive
Military to Require Flu Vaccine Amid Lackland Air Force Base Outbreak
Developing
In Short: In response to a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base, the U.S. military will require recruits to take the influenza vaccine.
The U.S. military is responding to a significant influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas by mandating the influenza vaccine for recruits. The base, which houses the Air Force's Basic Military Training program, has seen 275 people infected in recent weeks.
Mitigation measures are already in place at Lackland, including monitoring trainees who may have been exposed and treating symptomatic individuals with antiviral medications like Tamiflu, according to an Air Force spokesperson.
In early June, the military departments were granted exemptions that allow them to continue requiring flu vaccinations for certain service members, based on thorough risk assessments aimed at maintaining operational readiness and force generation.
The decision to mandate the flu vaccine follows a long-standing practice in the military, which has required personnel to be vaccinated against various diseases since 1945, including hepatitis B, measles, mumps, and rubella.
Background
Bexar County is a county in the U.S. state of Texas. It is in South Texas and its county seat is San Antonio.
Texas is the most populous state in the Southern United States. It borders the American states of Louisiana to the east, Arkansas to the northeast, Oklahoma to the north, and New Mexico to the west.
What's confirmed
What's still developing
- The news comes as Lackland Air Force Base in Texas — home to the Air Force's Basic Military Training program — grapples with a flu outbreak that has infected 275 people in recent weeks, a congressional staffer with…
- The unit at Lackland has implemented mitigation measures, is monitoring trainees who may have been exposed and is treating symptomatic trainees with antiviral medications such as Tamiflu, an Air Force spokesperson…
- By early May, all military departments had formally requested exemptions that allow them to keep requiring flu vaccinations for certain service members, and those exemptions were granted in early June, according to…
- "The decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations," Parnell said.
- The flu vaccine was first mandated for troops in 1945, leading to millions of vaccinations, according to a 2022 analysis of vaccine mandates in the military.
- The Pentagon has long required personnel to get vaccinated against a range of diseases from hepatitis B to measles, mumps and rubella.
- The Biden administration also required service members to receive COVID-19 vaccines, leading thousands of people who declined to get vaccinated to voluntarily or involuntarily leave the military.