Hegseth announces end to military flu vaccine requirement

By Fox News · Fox News

War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the end of the Pentagon 's long-running flu vaccine mandate for U.S. troops. "The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force," Hegseth announced in an X post , linking to a video statement of his signing the new policy. "We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately." Hegseth said service members would no longer be forced to take the annual flu shot, and instead could decide for themselves whether it was in their best interest, casting the move as part of a broader rollback of what he called overly aggressive medical mandates imposed under the Biden administration. "Our new policy is simple," Hegseth said. "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." HEGSETH VOWS TO REBUILD MILITARY DETERRENCE SO ENEMIES 'DON'T WANT TO F--- WITH US' "But we will not force you." The announcement appears to go further than a Pentagon policy shift disclosed last fall, when an internal memo showed the department had already begun scaling back the flu shot requirement, at least for some troops. Hegseth framed the change as a matter of personal liberty, religious freedom and military readiness. In the video, he accused the Biden administration of forcing troops to choose "between their conscience and their country" and said that period was over under President Donald Trump. DAVID MARCUS: IN TRUMP'S DEPARTMENT OF WAR, IT'S SOLDIERS — NOT EXPERTS — CALLING THE SHOTS "In this case, this includes the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it," Hegseth said. "The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member everywhere in every circumstance at all times is just overly broad and not rational." The Pentagon had required annual flu vaccinations across the force for years, arguing that widespread immunization helped protect readiness, especially in close-quarter m…