Pentagon Reinstates Flu Shot Mandate for Boot Camp Recruits After Outbreak

A flu outbreak at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that sickened more than 200 trainees has forced the Pentagon to reverse course. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth had recently made flu vaccines optional military-wide, but the reinstatement applies specifically to boot camp recruits, whose close-quarters living and dispersed origins create conditions for rapid transmission. The carve-out leaves voluntary policy intact elsewhere, threading the needle between operational readiness and the administration's broader skepticism of vaccine mandates.