6 ms·
Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base
- Hikikomori 4mo ago[flagged]
- wrs 4mo agoThey're also anti-"freedom". (Individual freedom being one of the paramount values of the military.) (edit: Sorry, thought the sarcasm would be obvious…)
- jqpabc123 4mo agoYes, nothing says "freedom" quite like having virtually every aspect of your life dictated and strictly controlled by the military establishment. But fortunately, "leadership" decided to allow recruits the freedom to be stupid and contagious and ultimately detrimental to the military mission and readiness.
- BLKNSLVR 4mo agoBut no beards, they're as dangerous as vaccines!
- BLKNSLVR 4mo ago> Individual freedom being one of the paramount values of the military I'm assuming sarcasm, my understanding is that the literal opposite is true.
- ngai_aku 4mo ago“not rational” and freedom-restricting. Lasted two months lol
- jqpabc123 4mo agoStupid is as stupid does.
- georgemcbay 4mo ago[flagged]
- robwwilliams 4mo ago[flagged]
- DaSHacka 4mo ago> turns out that reality still has a strong liberal bias. i love when people say this unironically and don't see the issue with it
- Arodex 4mo agoAbsolutely none of this should have happened. None. The 1918 "Spanish flu" was cultivated in the trenches and spread through military camps and demobilization. Hesgeth should be removed from his position ASAP. Edit: >Around 60% of previously unvaccinated trainees at Lackland initially declined the flu shot during the vaccine requirement’s lapse, according to the defense official. https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/flu-shot-outbreak-air-force https://edition.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/flu-shot-outbrea... Forget about Hesgeth. The USA is completely effed up.
- greenavocado 4mo agoBack in 2010 the situation was already extremely grim. Yes, they did test for tuberculosis upon intake and took blood samples for many hepatitis variants and possible a few other things. However, they let severe respiratory viruses run through everyone like wildfire for weeks without the slightest effort to prevent disease. They purposely let people get extremely cold and wet and didn't give a damn if people got sick. This is NOT new.
- kstrauser 4mo agoWe were all sick as dogs for the first weeks of boot camp with Ricky (that is “recruit”) Flu. Didn’t matter; still did thousand of pushups and ran miles with severe sleep deprivation. The (tear) gas chamber was a blessing in disguise, because it caused everyone to expel every dram of mucus that’d been stuck in our lungs. It was the first time I could breathe freely through my nose in a month.
- stevenwoo 4mo ago[dead]
- ourmandave 4mo agoMeanwhile, down the street, you've got RFK and POTUS making measles and polio great again. While also lying about taking Tylenol during pregnancy causing autism. They've done more studies since that misinformation to prove once again there's no connection. RFK should be removed along with the POTUS who put him there.
- hammock 4mo agoThis administration might be the exception, but it is actually normal for the US military to be getting more vaccines than average, even when their effectiveness is suspect (some past flu vaccines) or side effects are moderate to severe (e.g. anthrax vaccines). Readiness - a matter of national security - tends to trump most concerns that, in civilian populations, might warrant greater choice and debate.
- lokar 4mo agoIt’s common sense for any congregate housing arrangement
- 0cf8612b2e1e 4mo agoThere is (was?) a mandatory list of vaccines all military had to receive upon enlisting.
- jml78 4mo agoBack during the Iraq war, it even applied to civilians who deployed into the war zone. I had to get yellow fever and smallpox. I was just a software engineer that worked for the navy, but I had to do so I could go do my job over there.
- DaSHacka 4mo agoYou'd think other aspects of health, like general fitness and mental well-being would be factored in too, but strangely, the only requirement they seemed to take a hard stance on previously was over-vaccination. Almost like it was politically-motivated and it's not truthfully a "matter of national security"
- triceratops 4mo agoIf they could make every soldier super jacked, buff, zen masters with just an annual injection I guarantee you they would order that too.
- 4mo ago
- wrs 4mo ago>"The decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments..." Both decisions? Or just the walkback one?
- djsavvy 4mo agoNot justifying it by any means, but the first one could have been done on a risk assessment of how it would affect recruitment, retention, and morale. There are some worlds in which that could have been the rational choice, especially with knowledge that it would likely get rolled back in time.
- jqpabc123 4mo agoThere are some worlds Yes, that world is one based more on reality and common sense rather than politics and rhetoric. Unfortunately, this does not describe the world we are currently trapped in.
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- dqv 4mo ago> Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell said that the Pentagon had granted exceptions to Hegseth’s optional flu shot policy to the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Security Agency, and the Defense Health Agency. So which ones are still exempt from the vaccines? Space Force, USMC, Coast Guard, who else?
- annzabelle 4mo agoThere are a few obscure ones. Uniformed Health Service (the reason the Surgeon General is a General), which I'm certain is vaccinated. NOAA also has uniformed personnel.
- runjake 4mo agoThese do not fall under DoD or SECDEF and are not military. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_United_States https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Uniformed_services_of_the_Unit...
- jqpabc123 4mo agoSo basically, the "Pentagon" has refused directions from it's "leadership" on the basis that it is not conducive to good military order? Sounds like we have a leadership issue.
- jimjimjim 4mo agoYou've got to be able to deploy. Simple as that.
- andsoitis 4mo agoIt turns out eventually you have to deal with reality.
- SecretDreams 4mo agoSadly, all the time spent deferring reality ends up hurting a lot of bystanders. The debt they've run up is going to be painful, maybe moreso than the damages incurred from the anti-science and anti-transparency policies.
- vkou 4mo agoThe debt would be less painful if the pricks that were responsible for this mess would be billed for the consequences of their poor king-making. We can start with whomever showed up to that inauguration, and expand from there. If they could afford that bribe, they can certainly afford to pay for repairing the damage their golden boy has caused.
- brookst 4mo agoAnd/or if the debt was for something useful. There’s nothing wrong with running up massive low-interest debt if it’s invested in high-return projects. I’ll borrow every cent anyone will lend me at 2% if there’s a 4% savings account handy, and that’s the leverage the US used to enjoy. But just cutting taxes for the rich is not that model. Hopefully sanity prevails and we retroactively declare those tax cuts as loans, now due with interest. Yeah, not how contracts are supposed to work. So what.
- ligne 4mo agoAs we discovered to our cost here in the UK a few years ago, increasing government debt to give tax breaks to the rich doesn't just cause huge economic damage, it also makes it difficult for more responsible governments to borrow for actual investment, however critical.
- redsocksfan45 4mo ago
- beart 4mo agoI have a close friend who is an officer nearing twenty years. He has not had a tendency to criticize his job. However, he has been adamant that vaccines are incredibly important for the military and the policy changes have really angered him, specifically because of the damage it does to readiness.
- actionfromafar 4mo ago[flagged]
- sandworm101 4mo agoThe covid refusal also became a scam. If you refused then you couldnt be deployed. But it tool months to kick people out. So people who didnt want to deploy would refuse and then agree to get the shot at the last minute. So it kept them home for up to six months while thier buddies went overseas..
- actionfromafar 4mo ago[flagged]
- jemmyw 4mo agoThe US has a volunteer army, if you don't want to do army things why be there in the first place?
- deleted 4mo ago[deleted]
- sandworm101 4mo agoVolunteer, but only on the way in. And new recruits are very young. Things in thier lives change. They grow up a bit and often want out, but cant get out. Being stuck in a multi-year term of service doesnt feel like a volunteer army to them.
- 4mo ago
- ElProlactin 4mo ago[flagged]
- IAmGraydon 4mo agoI assume you don’t know what The Onion is. I suppose I can hardly blame you as the Onion struggles to write satire as absurd as reality these days.
- usefulcat 4mo agoOr possibly the downvoters don't know what The Onion is..
- ElProlactin 4mo agoPoe's law strikes again, even when you satire The Onion by name.
- iJohnDoe 4mo agoWe can’t really blame anyone these days for genuinely believing what The Onion writes about this administration.
- crunchiepooker 4mo ago[flagged]
- grizmaldi 4mo agoBecause freedom!
- jmward01 4mo agoIn a sane administration, the complete and total lack of judgement that allowed vaccine mandates to go away should have led to an instant loss of confidence in sec def and anyone in the chain that didn't raise concerns about that decision. Anyone that studies even the slightest amount of military history knows that disease used to kill more people in war than bullets until -very- recently. The fact that potentially the single most effective combat enabler is not taken seriously shows the complete and utter lack of qualifications the people this administration puts into positions of power.
- Ferret7446 4mo agoThere's a double layer of irony here, where the people criticizing people of the ignorance of "unintended" consequences of vaccine fear will play defense for the unintended consequence of causing that fear by the extremely aggressive pushing of vaccine policies during covid
- wmeredith 4mo agoI'll bite. The Covid vaccines were extremely effective. This information brought to us by a data leak of the report blocked by the US government... "NEW YORK (AP) — A study on COVID-19 vaccine effectiveness has finally been published after being blocked from a government health journal. The vaccine was found to be about 55% effective against COVID-19-associated hospitalizations, and reduced COVID-19-related trips to emergency departments and urgent care clinics by 50%, according to the study published Tuesday by JAMA Network Open." https://apnews.com/article/cdc-covid-vaccine-effective-study-256e61b5ff4fcf3bfecd48826077e389 https://apnews.com/article/cdc-covid-vaccine-effective-study...
- Terr_ 4mo agoI dare a grammarian to take the above-sentence and diagram it out. No, I'm not "feigning surprise", I am legitimately struggling to figure out exactly who's being blamed for what.
- Terr_ 4mo ago
- hackingonempty 4mo ago"Under President [Donald J.] Trump, the War Department continues to take decisive action to once again restore freedom and strength to our joint force. We're seizing this moment to discard any absurd overreaching mandates that only weaken our warfighting capabilities." - Secretary Hegseth in April 2026 War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.
- cindyllm 4mo ago[dead]
- jqpabc123 4mo agoAnd stupidity is intelligence. Democracy dies when stupid people become convinced that they know best and have all the answers.
- Balgair 4mo agoWait no? Democracy works exactly because of this? We just poll all the people, including the dumb ones, and then average out the answers. The dumbs all cancel out in the end. (Yes, of course, I know it is a lot more complex than this) The whole point of democracy is that we don't know what is the dumb or smart answer so we have these complex functions and dances to squeeze out the best one we can think of at the time. (Yes, I know that the reasons for states to turn democratic are complex)
- warumdarum 4mo agoWe also have politicsl organs to keep the powerfull busy schemeing so they can not destroy or deprecate the organs.
- pchangr 4mo agoI remember a professor once told us “democracy might not be the best kind of government. It’s just the best we have found to organize a peaceful power transition”. And .. to this date .. I agree .. it’s not about making the best decision.. it just allows us to come to a decision on a seemingly fair process.
- tantalor 4mo agoChesterton's Fence strikes again
- wiml 4mo agoI'm not sure "Chesterton's Fence" is an applicable fable/analogy when the fence has a big sign on it explaining exactly why it's there, and if you stop to look at it for a minute someone will come along and explain in great detail, answer all of your questions, and provide copious citations to the last several hundred years of public health and virology.
- erelong 4mo ago[flagged]
- JumpCrisscross 4mo ago> Anticipating all the downvotes Please don't do this: "Please don't comment about the voting on comments. It never does any good, and it makes boring reading" [1]. > flu vaccines are extremely ineffective They're not. They're not particularly effective for preventing flu in an individual. But at the group level, they have a clear and useful effect. [1] https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html
- erelong 4mo agoWilling to discuss it but I am definitely one who thinks it's a "scam", "mainstream" example articles on ineffectiveness: "Flu vaccines didn't work that well in the US, officials find (2026)" https://abc7chicago.com/post/flu-vaccines-didnt-work-us-officials-find/18714030/ https://abc7chicago.com/post/flu-vaccines-didnt-work-us-offi... https://apnews.com/article/flu-season-cdc-subclade-k-vaccination-11952f89201d2396ec0c52461441c82b https://apnews.com/article/flu-season-cdc-subclade-k-vaccina... "Flu Vaccine Was Not Very Effective This Season, the C.D.C. Says (2022)" https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/15706/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/search/research-news/15706/ "Flu shot fail: Why doesn't the vaccine always work? (2014)" https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-shot-fail-why-doesn-t-vaccine-always-work-n21446 https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/flu-shot-fail-why...
- defrost 4mo agoThe first example cites "the worst performance ever". Taking that as a given how bad was it? This season's vaccines were around 25% to 30% effective in preventing adults from getting sick enough from the flu that they had to go to a doctor's office, clinic or hospital, according to a CDC report this week. Of a hundred adults that would have had to seek medical treatment / take a day off (had there been no vaccine) 70 adults went to the doctors and 30 did not. Children who were vaccinated were about 40% less likely to get treatment at a doctor's office or hospital. (As above, of one hundred kids that would have gotten sick, 40 did not ) The questions really should be .. did people die that could have been saved, was it cost effective to vaccinate a hundred million people to reduce the percentage of those who contacted flu and then got sick (and did the vaccination reduce the numbers of people in contact). As it stands, by your examples, the flu vaccine didn't perform well that year, in comparison to others, but it hardly looks as though it had no effect whatsoever.
- 0xbadcafebee 4mo agoMore and more I believe the idea that Rome fell due to lead and pollution, because only stupidity could end an empire that had no rivals.
- enoint 4mo agoRFK Jr has elevated mercury; he says due to eating top predator fish. He underwent chelation therapy and still exhibits some of the symptoms in my opinion.
- rurp 4mo agoI don't buy it. Empires thrive when they are broadly expanding wealth, whether that's by plundering neighbors or making their economy more effective. There's always a tension between growing the pie or taking more of the pie for yourself. If growth appears to be slowing and there's a lot of pie to fight over, more and more people will focus on the latter. Sometimes that's healthy, but without external pressure it usually takes the form of corruption, pettiness, and other destructive behaviors.
- redsocksfan45 4mo ago[dead]
- h05sz487b 4mo agoThe United States military is nothing to sneeze at (it would kill them).
- ChoGGi 4mo agoLooks like Hegseth learned who the true victor of WW1 was.