Flu Outbreak Reported Among Trainees at Lackland Air Force Base

Dozens of service members at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas have fallen ill with the flu in the weeks since the vaccine mandate was rescinded. Over the last three weeks, the 37th Training Wing, in close coordination with the 59th Medical Wing, has been managing a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training, an Air Force spokesperson said.

The unit has implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees and is monitoring trainees who may have been exposed.

Symptomatic trainees are receiving antiviral medications such as Tamiflu. Only about 40% of Air Force trainees have opted to take the flu vaccine since the mandate was rescinded, sources familiar confirmed. In April, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth issued a memo that rescinded the decades-long flu vaccine mandate.

On Thursday, Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell stated that the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness granted exceptions to the policy for the departments of the Army, Navy, Air Force, and the National Security Agency and Defense Health Agency.

Parnell said the decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations. The Army, Navy, Air Force, NSA, and DHA are responsible for implementing the exceptions to policy, he said.

"The Department remains committed to the health and readiness of our warfighters and civilian personnel," Parnell said. The 37th Training Wing at Lackland is the largest training wing in the Air Force and provides the basic military training of all enlisted recruits entering the Air Force, Space Force, Air Force Reserve and Air National Guard.