Democratic lawmakers propose restoring mandatory flu shots for service members

Three Democratic lawmakers introduced an amendment to the annual defense funding and policy bill that would require the Pentagon to restore mandatory flu vaccinations for service members. The measure, offered Tuesday by Reps.

Outbreak details The amendment follows an outbreak at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland that has sickened at least 275 Air Force recruits undergoing basic training since early June. Four recruits have been hospitalized, and one airman died on June 12 after a medical emergency, though investigators have not determined whether the death was connected to the flu.

Basic trainees live and train in close quarters, and the physical demands plus sleep deprivation can weaken immune response. Before the new exemptions took effect, about 60 percent of Lackland trainees had not received the flu vaccine.

Service-wide exemptions Less than two months after the April policy change, the military services received exemptions allowing them to require the shot for basic trainees, personnel deploying overseas or in major exercises, staff in prisons, healthcare and childcare facilities, and crews on Air Force One.

The Air Force now plans to vaccinate all recruits in the current class and all new arrivals at the base. "A [service member] who is sick cannot fight effectively," Castro said at a Tuesday press conference. " Houlahan, an Air Force veteran, noted that for decades the military required influenza vaccines for new recruits because infectious disease spreads quickly when thousands of people live and train in close quarters.