Air Force unit in Texas faces flu outbreak weeks after vaccine requirement dropped
Following Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to rescind the flu vaccine mandate, dozens of service members at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas have fallen ill with the flu in recent weeks, sources familiar with the situation confirmed to CBS News.
An Air Force spokesperson stated, “Over the last three weeks, the 37th Training Wing, in close coordination with the 59th Medical Wing, has been managing a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training.”
The New York Times was the first to report on the outbreak at the training wing in Texas. The unit has implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees, as well as monitoring those who may have been exposed. Symptomatic trainees are receiving antiviral medications such as Tamiflu.
When Hegseth rescinded the decades-long mandate in April, he stated in a memo and accompanying video that the Pentagon was aiming to discard any “absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our warfighting capability.”
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated on Thursday that exceptions to the policy were granted for the departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Security Agency, and Defense Health Agency if there were needs to make the vaccine mandatory. These decisions were based on thorough risk assessments to maximize operational readiness and safeguard at-risk populations.
It was confirmed by sources that only about 40% of Air Force trainees have opted to take the flu vaccine since the mandate was rescinded. The 37th Training Wing at Lackland is responsible for providing basic military training to all enlisted recruits entering the Air Force, Space Force, Air Force Reserve, and Air National Guard.
In a tragic turn of events, a trainee named Keon McDaniel passed away following a medical emergency during his sixth week of basic military training. He was transported to Brooke Army Medical Center on June 12 and succumbed to the emergency on June 16. The cause of the medical emergency is currently under investigation.
