- The U.S. Navy will again require some sailors to receive annual flu shots.
- Defense Sec. Pete Hegseth announced last April that the influenza vaccine would be optional for all troops.
- The Air Force began requiring its recruits to receive flu vaccines following a large flu outbreak at a Texas training center.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in April that American military personnel can say “yea” or “nay” to flu shots.
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The updated policy offered troops the choice of whether or not to receive the annual influenza vaccine. The decision to lift the broad flu shot requirement, said Hegseth, was grounded in what he called “medical autonomy.”
“Our new policy is simple: If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it. You should,” the Defense secretary said in a video posted to his X account.
“But we will not force you — because your body, your faith and your convictions are not negotiable.”
The former mandate requiring all service members to take the flu shot, added Hegseth, is “overly broad and not rational.”
The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force.
We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately. pic.twitter.com/9K5W8g0NsD
— Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) April 21, 2026
But the announcing the military’s flu vaccine update also included a caveat: Department of Defense services could request exemptions.
Such requests regarding the flu shot are apparently being made — and granted.
The Navy is now requiring sailors and associated civilians from a variety of different operational groups to receive the influenza vaccine.
A Navy memo issued this week said the annual flu shot is now mandatory for all Navy personnel entering basic training, Officer Candidate School and the U.S. Naval Academy — along with “officer accession programs and officers who are directly commissioned.”
Personnel assigned to work at entry training programs are also now required to be vaccinated.
In basic training, troops live in close quarters, sleeping in tightly packed bays, showering communally and spending much of the day within arm’s reach of one another as they move through drills, instruction and inspections.
In that environment, illness can quickly spread once one trainee gets sick. Troops are also constantly stressed and exhausted, conditions which can leave the immune system vulnerable.
Other sailors who will now be rolling up their sleeves for mandatory flu shots are Navy healthcare personnel who have direct contact or exposure to patients, along with deployed sailors serving in countries or regions with flu vaccination requirements.
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The flu shot requirement also includes civilians working in Navy-sponsored child development and youth programs and Navy reservists who provide care to patients “and those not directly involved in patient care but potentially exposed to infectious agents that can be transmitted to and from other health care professionals.”
Additionally, all Navy reserve personnel working with the Chemical, Biological, Radiological, and Nuclear Enhanced Response Enterprise must receive the flu vaccine, regardless of their current order status.
While the annual flu vaccine is not required for all Navy personnel, the recent memo doubled as a strong recommendation.
“The influenza vaccine is highly encouraged to prevent outbreaks that can degrade unit readiness, disrupt training schedules, and deployment execution, which adversely impacts mission.”
Exemptions to the mandatory flu shots may be granted in some cases.
Navy flu vaccine update follows large outbreak at Air Force base
This week’s Navy flu vaccine policy comes about a month after a flu outbreak that infected hundreds of Air Force recruits participating in basic training at San Antonio’s Lackland Air Force Base.
More than 200 recruits at the Lackland base were diagnosed with the flu. At least four were hospitalized and one trainee died as a result of the flu, according to Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas.
In the Air Force, only about 40% of its new trainees at Joint Base San Antonio reportedly had a flu vaccination when the outbreak started in early June, according to ABC News.
“This is a tragedy that could have been prevented were it not for the reckless actions of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth,” Castro told reporters during a press conference at the U.S. Capitol.
In scrapping the flu vaccine mandate for all service members this past April, Castro argued Hegseth put troops in harm’s way and undermined the military’s readiness.
Following the flu outbreak at Lackland, Rep. Chrissy Houlahan, D-Pa., a former Air Force officer, co-sponsored an amendment to the National Defense Authorization Act to require troops to be vaccinated for influenza. The provision did not pass.
Still, the Air Force is now requiring flu shots for recruits at its San Antonio base. And the Army is reportedly reinstating flu vaccination requirements for troops deploying overseas and several other service communities, a service spokesperson told ABC News last month.
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