#flu outbreak

The outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base has reportedly hospitalized two recruits, though the number of cases and hospitalizations may be higher.

By Nina Golgowski

Jun 19, 2026, 10:36 AM EDT

Nearly 160 troops have reportedly been sick with the flu at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dropped a flu vaccine mandate in April, according to news reports.

The outbreak in San Antonio has led to the hospitalization of two recruits as of Wednesday, ABC News reported, citing two sources familiar with the matter. Another source told the outlet that the number of cases and hospitalizations may be higher.

The death of a trainee at the base last week after suffering a medical emergency remains under investigation, officials said in a statement Wednesday.

Air Force base grapples with major flu outbreak after Hegseth drops vaccine requirement

A Texas Air Force base is grappling with a major flu outbreak just weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth dropped the military's flu vaccine requirement. MS NOW Pentagon Reporter Priya Sridhar has more details. MS NOW Contributor Pablo Torre joins Alicia Menendez to share his reaction.

After that chronically drunken ignorant twit Pete Hegseth ended vaccination requirements, 160 members of the US Air Force came down with the flu at a base in Texas.

A flu outbreak has been tearing through a Texas Air Force base, less than two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the Pentagon would be ending its flu shot requirement. The outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio has reportedly sickened nearly 160 troops, prompting the Air Force to temporarily require recruits there to once again get the flu shot, The New York Times reports. "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," an Air Force spokesperson told The Independent in a statement. "Medical professionals and Public Health officials have implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation."

The Trump administration caused stockpiles of ammunition to become badly depleted because of the bungled war with Iran which it lost.

What Everyone Needs to Know Q&A: As the United States deals with the worst nationwide flu outbreak in nearly a decade, we want to know:

Are we getting any closer to an influenza vaccine that does not have to be changed every year?

Significant resources and focus have been devoted to influenza vaccine development, particularly improvements to the vac­cine’s production and effectiveness. Development of a univer­sal influenza vaccine is high on this priority list as well, but it has proven challenging. A universal vaccine will require the ability to identify a part of the virus that does not change and also sparks a good enough antibody response to provide protection. Some vaccine candidates are focusing on a differ­ent part of the hemaglutinin protein: Current vaccines use the top, or head, of the protein, whereas the newer candidate vaccines use the more stable stalk. Other vaccine candidates focus on different virus proteins altogether, but these options would only make infection less severe, not prevent infection entirely. Last, some vaccine candidates use a helper substance, or adjuvant, that helps boost the antibody response for a wider range of proteins that may be shared across different influenza strains. These new possibilities may mean that a new vaccine would not be needed every year, but most of these vaccine can­didates are still in the preclinical or early clinical trial phases.

Another focus for influenza vaccine development is speed—finding a way to manufacture more vaccine, faster. The current vaccine’s dependence on eggs for vaccine production has made it difficult to scale- up production when need is greatest, especially in lower income countries. Some new vaccines do not require the use of eggs to grow influenza virus; these are known as cell- culture influenza vaccines.

[Page 146-7, Vaccines: What Everyone Needs to Know by Kristen A. Feemster]

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