An influenza outbreak that started in late May has left nearly 160 Air Force recruits sick, with some hospitalized.
An Air Force spokesperson told Task & Purpose that the 37th Training Wing has been dealing with a “localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training” at Lackland Air Force Base. The flu outbreak has been going on for three weeks, the Air Force said, although training at the base has not been interrupted.
The New York Times first reported on the outbreak, confirming that nearly 160 troops at the base have gotten sick from the flu two months after the Department of Defense stopped requiring the influenza vaccine.
According to the New York Times and ABC News, only approximately 40% of trainees have gotten the flu vaccine since the mandate was lifted in April. The Air Force is now treating dozens of sick trainees. The service’s statement said that medical professionals at the base have implemented “mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation,” specifically getting antiviral medications including Tamiflu. Those who are sick will return to training once cleared by healthcare providers.
Top Stories This Week
In April, the Department of Defense stopped making the flu vaccine mandatory, a reversal of a decades-old policy. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the change, framing it as a matter of bodily autonomy and religious freedom. In his announcement at the time, Hegseth said that the “notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance, at all times, is just overly broad and not rational.”
Lackland is part of the wider Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland installation and where all Air Force recruits go through for Basic Military Training, with thousands moving through the base each year.
The Air Force said it is “monitoring” trainees who were in close contact with people who got sick. However the force did not go into specifics on what is being done to prevent the outbreak from spreading further, both on the base as a whole and among trainees, who sleep in close quarters in bunk beds and eat in large groups.
The outbreak also comes as one trainee at Lackland, Keon McDaniel, died on June 16 from an unspecified medical emergency, according to the 37th Training Wing. The Air Force announced the death on Wednesday and said that it is conducting a “comprehensive medical review” into his death. It’s not clear if that medical emergency is tied to the flu outbreak.
The Pentagon did allow the different military branches exceptions to the new policy, allowing services to require the vaccine in certain circumstances. The New York Times reported that recruits were ordered to get the flu vaccine after the outbreak began, citing Air Force officials, although the Air Force did not say that in its statement.
