The Pentagon has restored influenza vaccine requirements for new military recruits, creating a notable carveout from Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's earlier move to make the annual flu shot voluntary for service members. According to the CBS News report supplied for this item, every branch of the U.S. military began applying the recruit requirement again earlier in June.
The policy shift is unfolding while Lackland Air Force Base in Texas, where the Air Force runs basic training, deals with a significant outbreak. CBS cited a congressional staffer who said 275 people had been infected in recent weeks. An Air Force spokesperson also said the unit was monitoring exposed trainees, using mitigation measures and giving antiviral treatment, including Tamiflu, to those showing symptoms.
CBS reported that the process to restore the shot requirement for recruits began before the Lackland outbreak became public, so the decision was not presented as a direct reaction to that single event. Still, the timing illustrates why the Pentagon wanted room to retain mandates for groups seen as especially vulnerable to respiratory spread in close quarters.
Hegseth announced in late April that the flu vaccine would become optional and argued on social media that a blanket requirement was too broad. The same report says military departments asked for exemptions in early May so they could keep mandates in place for selected populations. Those requests had been approved by the start of June, the congressional staffer told CBS.
The exemptions appear to cover people whose work or living arrangements raise transmission risks, including residents of communal settings and healthcare workers. Chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said the exceptions followed a comprehensive review and were intended to protect readiness, force generation and at-risk populations. The department referred CBS back to that statement when asked for further comment.
The report also places the reversal in a long historical frame. The flu shot first became mandatory for troops in 1945, was dropped in 1949 and then reinstated during the 1950s, remaining in force for decades until Hegseth's order. U.S. forces have long been subject to immunization requirements for other diseases as well.
The verified takeaway from the supplied evidence is straightforward. Recruit vaccination rules are back across the services, the Pentagon says exemptions justify the narrower mandate, and the move coincides with a live outbreak at a major training base. What the reporting does not provide is branch-by-branch implementation detail or any broader new reversal of the voluntary policy for the rest of the force.
