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| -Land of the Free |
| Hegseth announces end to military flu vaccine requirement |
| 2026-04-27 |
| [FoxNews] 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." "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. |
| Posted by:Skidmark |
| #1 |
| Posted by: Skidmark 2026-04-27 00:47 |