Flu sickens scores of troops at Air Force base in Texas after Pentagon ends vaccine requirement

U.S. airmen and Air Force trainees have fallen ill after a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, according to a spokesperson for the branch.

U.S. airmen and trainees have fallen ill after a flu outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, according to a spokesperson for the military branch. The number of sickened troops could be over 200, according to a source at the base.

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The outbreak comes less than two months after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ended the requirement for U.S. troops to receive an annual flu vaccine. In an April video announcement, Hegseth called the mandate “absurd” and “overreaching.”

“Under the disastrous Biden administration, this Pentagon waged an unrelenting war on our warriors on many fronts, including when it came to denying them simple medical autonomy and the freedom to express their religious convictions,” Hegseth said.