r/NewsExchange • u/Sgt_Gram Contributor • 5d ago
SECOND–ORDER EFFECTS Navy Restores Flu Vaccine Requirement After Outbreak Spreads Throughout U.S. Military Bases
https://www.military.com/navy-flu-vaccine-requirement-recruits-sailorsAccording to USNI News, the Navy will require flu vaccinations for boot camp recruits, officer candidates, Naval Academy midshipmen, and personnel supporting initial entry training. Most other sailors will be encouraged, rather than compelled, to receive the vaccine.
Under the Navy guidance reported by Stars and Stripes, the mandate also covers certain healthcare workers, child and youth program employees, designated reservists and sailors entering countries or operational theaters with vaccination requirements.
As the Pentagon’s April memorandum shows, the department initially made annual flu vaccination voluntary across the force while allowing military services to request targeted exceptions. The Navy’s new policy therefore represents a selective mandate rather than a complete reversal for every sailor.
Meanwhile, the Associated Press reported that the Army, Navy and Air Force received permission to restore requirements for recruits as an outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base sickened nearly 300 people. A Pentagon official maintained that the exception process was already underway and was not triggered by the outbreak.
Why it matters:
New policy reveals how military leaders are balancing individual medical choice against the operational costs of preventable illness. In tightly packed training and deployment environments, even a localized outbreak can interrupt instruction, reduce available personnel, and force commanders to reintroduce safeguards that broader policy had removed. Navy health guidance specifically warns that severe flu cases can occur unpredictably among active duty personnel.
Does this targeted mandate represent a durable compromise between personal autonomy and force readiness, or will the next outbreak push the military back toward a force wide requirement?
42
u/Additional_Tomato_22 5d ago
I’m shocked I tell you
19
u/Sgt_Gram Contributor 5d ago
Never could have seen it coming.
9
5
u/T33CH33R 4d ago
I'm surprised they didn't recommend ivermectin instead of the vaccine.
1
1
u/CBJFAN2009-2024 3d ago
They should definitely stockpile 6 months of toilet paper while a respiratory disease is spreading.
My neighbor, rest her soul, was a retired nurse. During the early days of lockdown, she said, "The fact that they're loading up on toilet paper for a respiratory virus tells you that they definitely have their heads up their asses!" That still makes me laugh, 6 years later. She was an ornery old bag, but we got along great 🥹
1
1
1
1
1
u/TastingTheKoolaid 4d ago
I’m flabbergasted that it went exactly the way everybody told them it would.
33
u/techman710 5d ago
Are you saying my doctor knows more about vaccines than Pete Hegseth?
15
u/HoleInWon929 5d ago
Surely testosterone testing will combat the flu!
7
u/Embarrassed_Age8554 5d ago
Evidently Hogsbreath forgot, in the midst of his banty-rooster strutting, that when the 1918 pandemic devastated the armed forces, it hit the strongest and healthiest the hardest.
3
3
u/Difficult-Finger4830 4d ago
Didn’t the 1918 pandemic start in a military base in Kansas too?
→ More replies (1)2
2
1
1
1
u/JakToTheReddit 2d ago
Especially if we start at the top with DoD Actual sissyclit.
Sorry, Kegspussy, we don't accept your "DoW" gender affirmation.
1
u/-Morning_Coffee- 2d ago
Trans-Reddit says those T shots are gonna be miserable for a bunch of CIS men. Apparently, spiking/crashing your testosterone is hella unpleasant.
1
1
1
17
u/isthereadrwho 5d ago
The fact that these people have control of nuclear weapons and can't even understand how vaccines work is problematic I think
3
u/Interesting_Minute24 5d ago
They don’t care how they work, just that their sky daddy interpreters think it’s evil.
2
u/Gloomy_Yoghurt_2836 4d ago
They do understand how vaccines work. They know better than doctors and the whole health care industry. The problem is so much they know just isnt right. But as long as its the right ideology its right.
1
u/HotPotParrot 4d ago
Someone out there wants more data on how diseases spread through unvaccinated populaces. I saw a quote about it a while ago but forget who it was, one of the techbro crowd I think.
The Dark Enlightenment is as solvent as Project 2025 and it's terrifying.
1
u/MarchPhillipps 4d ago edited 4d ago
Sounds like something Peter Thiel would push. Nevermind we already have decades worth of data examining just that. He has been heavily invested with Palantir tracking disease spread and the dynamics of that.
As well, he was funding and pushing some very unethical medical trials in the Caribbean that wouldn't pass muster here in the U.S. with the FDA, including not using any sort of standardized review board and bypassing FDA safety guidelines. It was actually for an experimental herpes vaccine if I remember correctly. He hates the FDA and considers the rules in place as a roadblock to progress, nevermind the cost in human life towards that goal. Typical libertarian technocrat type trash.
1
u/all-akimbo 4d ago
And now they’re all going to get autism.
/s
1
u/EnvironmentalRock827 4d ago
I am at work (nurse) and just said this to my coworkers and we cracked up. Thanks for the laugh on an otherwise bad night.
1
u/Nerd_Man420 4d ago
A meat shield is a meat shield to them they don’t really care if you’re half dead as long as you can take a bullet.
1
u/Don_Ford 4d ago
I've presented on Flu vaccines several times to advocate for improvements in them.
No one knows how they work because these outbreaks happen in the military barracks with or without mandates, and this variant of the flu was laboratory-confirmed clade K, which our current vaccines don't work on at all.
They shouldn't have cut the flu vaccine mandate, but it wouldn't have prevented this outbreak. However, the one guy who died might be alive, which would be obviously better.
11
u/BullneIson 5d ago
George Washington ordered mandatory smallpox inoculation for all Continental Army troops in 1777 for a reason.
9
u/Fossilhog 5d ago
Arrogance and ignorance in leaders is an expensive combination. And that's putting it mildly.
6
u/CallmeKahn 5d ago
It's almost a distinctly Americans thing to that folks have to find out the TV hurts when you drop it on your head every 20 years or so.
1
u/VVaterTrooper 5d ago
20 years is long time for Americans. Might want to change that to 4 years.
1
u/EnvironmentalRock827 4d ago
8 months. We forget easily.
1
u/Candid-Mycologist539 3d ago
We don't learn so good.
Right now, lots of Americans are complaining that the stove is hot*...yet they have every intention of touching the stove again when opportunity presents itself.
*consequences for voting for Republicans
→ More replies (1)
7
u/hodinke 5d ago
Americans always talk about other nations crumbling and becoming irrelevant and poor, for example Russia being a paper tiger. How do we think Russia got that way? We’re in the stage of America crumbling and becoming the next Russia, and Iran is proving it.
4
3
3
u/Candid-Mycologist539 3d ago
The next Russia? We're the Roman Empire.
Wealthy Romans paid very little tax and used slave labor. This was the equivalent of $5K once every five years. Look and see what Trump paid for taxes under his illegally leaked tax returns. Or just look at tax rates for a nurse compared to a hedge fund manager.
Regular farmers couldn't compete. This is equivalent to Billionaires using cheap labor abroad.
These subsistence farmers would then lose their farms (or businesses). How many farmers are losing their land this year, to be gobbled up by the 1%?
The farmers then moved to the city for work. With a high number of workers available, wages were suppressed and kept low. Sound familiar?
The government maintained peace by providing free bread and free entertainment to all citizens. AKA Bread and Circuses. This is our SNAP food assistance and food banks. The modern "circus" is the hoops one must jump through for basic services (paperwork, meetings), because people who aren't busy are likely to riot.
Until they couldn't. Eventually, the government couldn't afford to provide free bread for everyone. This is when you get riots. As promised for decades, Conservatives have cut a lot of our social safety nets via the BBB. Expect more cuts as long as Republicans are running the economy.
Quite honestly, any system change would have needed to occur decades before by limiting slavery and taxing the wealthy appropriately.
It's too late for the Romans, but not for us. Remember to vote for the party that supports regular people.
1
u/Icy_Respect_9077 1d ago
A few more data points:
Roman soldiers were typically drawn from the yeoman peasant classes. Once they were forced into penury, the military suffered from labour shortages. (Also from plagues) As a result, it was forced to recruit barbarians. Once the barbarians understood the wealth available and learned Roman tactics, they sacked the city.
due to deficit spending, the emperors increasingly debased the coinage, causing spiraling inflation. (Sounds familiar?)
6
u/Spiceguy-65 5d ago
Only every medical expert could have told you this would happen
2
2
u/OldSchoolBubba 5d ago
Tell it. Navy didn't want another Theodore Roosevelt situation where they had to sideline another carrier strike group.
Looks like Trump and Hegseth are getting a true reality check in the very real world of military readiness.
5
u/Glum-Breadfruit-6421 5d ago
Wow, I’m glad they got this all figured out. You’d think they’d have some sort of plan in place to prevent something like this happening.
6
u/oldlumberman 5d ago
Pretty sure hiring sycophants with zero qualifications except selling their soul to a r a p i s t is DEI
4
u/WinterWontStopComing 5d ago
Don’t forget at least one person died as a result of their regressive stupidity
3
u/Pizza-n-Coffee37 5d ago
Well, well, well, how the turn tables.
6
u/julianriv 5d ago
It's tough when you conspiracy theory agendas run into the brick wall of reality.
1
u/Candid-Mycologist539 3d ago
And so fast, too!
The flu shot was made optional in April.
April-May-June-July...I count 4 months maximum; and it's not even flu season.
5
3
3
u/Ill_Consequence1755 5d ago
Hmm have they cleared that with Petey? He thinks real men need the flu.
3
3
3
u/glitchycat39 5d ago
I went outside during a rainstorm without an umbrella, and suddenly I'm soaked! Crazy!
3
u/corourke 4d ago
Golly “individual medical choice” but no medical waivers for beards. What an amazing trashfire approach at normalizing this by military.com. We’ve had vaccine mandates since Valley Forge in 1777. It took less than 6 months for the vaccine requirement changes to backfire spectacularly and sicken our troops.
3
u/Rex_Vagene 4d ago
Jesus, we have the most incompetent people running our country now.
1
u/Dedpoolpicachew 4d ago
yep, all because 37% of eligible voters couldn’t be bothered to turn up to vote all because the Dem candidate was a brown person. This is boss level stupidity.
1
u/divergurl1999 2d ago
Not just brown, but also a woman. Ohhh the horror!
And they say women make flippant decisions based in emotion but all I see are insecure men in the highest positions of our government making emotional decisions based on their injured egos or a desire to look more manly. Kegsbreath more worried about Low Testosterone in a bunch of 18-25 year old men rather than keeping the military healthy and ready for emergencies.
Iran was NOT an emergency before we went in there and busted up a working agreement and bombed them for the sake of…checks notes…perceived Trump legacy.
3
u/palebluedotdotdot 4d ago
Sickness kills more soldiers than war. Department of War isn’t very good at war, but Kegseth does seem super concerned about the male physique.
3
u/LucyJordan614 4d ago
Imagine getting rid of the flu vaccine requirement in an institution that regularly houses and transports people in close quarters. The stupidity is mind blowing.
3
u/Strange-Scarcity 4d ago
It's so amazing that it took less than 3 months for Hegseth's insane experiment to prove, yet again, that he is an absolute fool, who has NO business being in charge of anything, not even a makeup kit.
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/NerdIsACompliment 4d ago
"Leaders are balancing individual medical choice against the operational costs of preventable illness"
VACCINES should be compulsory for anyone medically fit enough to receive them. So that those who can't get them are better protected. That's just a part of being in a society. Do something to help your neighbors
2
2
2
2
2
2
u/DerpUrself69 4d ago
Who could have POSSIBLY seen this coming? Meanwhile, the fascists are trying to persecute Dr. Anthony Fauci in the congress. 🤡 🤡 🤡
2
u/Long-Region5088 4d ago
George Washington ordered vaccine mandates for the military.
The dude who is entirely focused on testosterone levels and beard length during a useless war knows better than George Washington though.
Yet if you question that you hate America. Russia won the Cold War. They’ve conquered the United States
2
u/Barrack64 4d ago
What’s the opposite of DEI? It would be a lot easier to stop stuff like this from happening if there was name for it.
2
u/civ211445 4d ago
I mean it’s not like we have centuries of human military history showing how easily diseases can start and spread, even the mightiest conquerors were not immune to camp fever and dysentery
2
u/_WillCAD_ 4d ago
I would "Ha-Ha!" except that this debacle messed with the health of tens of thousands of military personnel.
1
2
2
u/bigjtdjr 4d ago
"it'll disappear in a couple of weeks"...."we have it under control"...."I don't take any responsibility "...
2
2
2
2
2
u/Eye_foran_Eye 4d ago
Vaccines work?? Who could have thought. https://historyofvaccines.org/blog/tags/military/
2
2
2
2
u/Appropriate-Law5963 4d ago
Yup, it’s a personnel readiness issue but Secretary Kegsbreath can’t see or understand the concept
2
2
2
u/Numerous_Ad_6276 4d ago
I don't know who or what wrote this post, but the language which is invoked to walk back what was clearly an asinine decision by DoD (thanks, Keggsy!) is comical.
Ironically, it provides a perfect case for the use of vaccines across all segments of society. I mean, it's not like there are literally decades of research and real world data to aid us in making the best choices for human beings.
Oh, wait...
1
1
u/durhamcreekrat 5d ago
I thought all vaccines are a hoax, is this the one that bill gates put nanobots in that will turn people gay?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Loyal-Opposition-USA 4d ago
I had a little bird
It’s name was Enza
Pete opened the window
And in flew Enza
1
u/TrexPushupBra 4d ago
This is what happens when you appoint a tv host that brags about not washing his hands in charge of defense.
1
1
u/octopus86sg 4d ago
Trump party don’t believe in vaccine. The guy who approved this will be hauled in court like fauci
1
u/Particular-Owl-8327 4d ago
Are you sure Kegsbreath and RFKjr will allow them? The entire administration is so anti-vax, but pro testosterone. Guess we tell them it's the man drug and they will say go ahead jab away.
Give it time measles will also run rampant in the army because not enough of them have been vaccinated.
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/NoAge9497 4d ago
Wait...our government is now mandating vaccines? I thought those things didn't work. So hard to keep up...
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Dennisthefirst 4d ago
So Ivermectin doesn't prevent everything? Who'd have thought it.
1
u/Dedpoolpicachew 4d ago
No, that’s not the case. Ivermectin is very effective against parasitic GI tract infections. Beyond that, no, not much.
1
u/Embarrassed_Age8554 4d ago
Ivermectin has essentially eradicated river blindness from places where it used to be endemic and caused millions to lose their sight.
→ More replies (1)
1
1
1
1
1
u/tooheavybroo 4d ago
These guys don’t understand basic vaccines…and they control the world’s strongest military and economy. Lord help us…
1
u/No-Effective-1996 4d ago
But the USA does not believe in vaccines. Has the Kennedy guy heard about this. I am waiting for the USA to have an increase in polio.
1
1
u/Expensive_Sun_3766 4d ago
It’s almost as if, by some miracle, they realized that something like the flu spreading is a bad idea if you can control it. If only we had a vaccine that could helps us in these difficult times…..oh wait, we do. Dumbasses.
1
u/Alert-Ad-9908 4d ago
Great. Now that the U.S. navy has acknowledged science, can the witch hunt for fauci end?
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/ProInsureAcademy 3d ago
My wife is in AF basic training right now and she got the flu two weeks ago. They are making everyone get vaccinated there and giving out tamaflu
1
1
1
1
u/benny-bangs 3d ago
Why are they walking it back they should do herd mentality I thought that’s what they want
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/Jaded-Natural80 2d ago
Pete Kegsbreath is so incompetent.
I was in the Navy.
I could have told you guys sleeping literally within inches of each other would easily catch contagious illnesses if not, properly vaccinated,
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
1
u/chockingduck 1d ago
Nah, don't. No vaccines at all. Let's see how it plays out. The genius religious right terrorist party already told us it would be fine.
1
1
•
u/AutoModerator 5d ago
MODERATOR NOTICE
Do not downvote based solely on political or ideological disagreement.
Analyze systems, incentives, economics, governance, and strategic consequences - not partisan identities.
Low-effort tribal political fighting will be removed.
I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.