2026-06-24T23:00:14.386Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/flu-shot-outbreak-air-force
据一名国防部官员和一位知情人士透露，本月早些时候，得克萨斯州拉克兰空军基地的基础军事训练新兵中流感疫情恶化，而与此同时，美国空军要求恢复强制流感疫苗接种要求的申请正在五角大楼官僚体系中流转。此前国防部长皮特·赫格斯瑟曾取消过该强制要求。
德克萨斯州民主党众议员华金·卡斯特罗（其选区涵盖拉克兰基地）告诉CNN，此次疫情“正在恶化”，自暴发以来已有至少275名新兵染病。美国空军证实，一名新兵于6月16日在军事医院死亡，其几天前曾出现“医疗紧急情况”，但目前尚不清楚他的死亡是否与此次流感疫情有关。
据这位国防部官员透露，在疫苗强制要求失效期间，拉克兰基地约60%此前未接种疫苗的受训人员最初拒绝接种流感疫苗。赫格斯瑟在4月发布命令，指示五角大楼领导层取消流感疫苗强制要求后，新兵便获得了拒绝接种疫苗的选择权。
赫格斯瑟的命令允许各军种申请豁免，但该命令在豁免程序完成前就已生效。
这位国防部官员和知情人士表示，空军新兵的疫苗强制令于6月11日恢复，几周内拉克兰基地未接种疫苗的受训人员便接种了流感疫苗。
但到那时，拉克兰基地的疫情已经开始蔓延。
五角大楼首席发言人肖恩·帕内尔在一份声明中表示，国防部已“批准政策例外”，允许在全军范围内针对特定人群实施强制疫苗接种。
帕内尔称：“这些决定基于全面的风险评估，旨在最大限度提高作战准备、杀伤力和部队生成能力，同时保护高危人群。”
今年4月，赫格斯瑟通过社交媒体视频宣布美军部队不再强制接种流感疫苗时，他表示军方的全面强制要求“过于宽泛且不合理”。
赫格斯瑟4月20日发布的实施该政策变更的备忘录，立即让所有美军人员无需再接种流感疫苗，无论其处境或任务如何。该备忘录还指示陆军、海军、空军、太空军和海军陆战队如何提交申请，为某些高危人群恢复疫苗接种要求。
这位官员和知情人士称，在这位五角大楼首长宣布这一消息后，各军种都匆忙提交了豁免申请——其中包括针对新兵训练营人员的申请。美国空军于5月5日提交了针对基础训练人员恢复流感疫苗接种的豁免申请。
但豁免申请花了一个多月才走完军方官僚流程：首先需经过赫格斯瑟的高级健康顾问基思·巴斯的办公室，随后提交给安东尼·塔塔的办公室。塔塔是一位颇具争议的退役一星将军，目前担任五角大楼负责人员与战备事务的副部长。
据这位官员和知情人士透露，塔塔于6月11日批准了空军恢复基础训练人员流感疫苗接种的申请。但到那时，拉克兰基地的受训人员中已经出现了疫情——据一位空军官员透露，基地官员直到6月18日才得知疫苗再次成为强制接种要求。
医师、前五角大楼卫生官员特里·阿德里姆认为，赫格斯瑟“立即生效”的疫苗要求撤销方式导致部分部队的疫苗接种出现空档。阿德里姆在唐纳德·特朗普总统第一任期内曾担任国防部卫生事务办公室高级官员，后在拜登政府期间重返该办公室担任代理负责人。
“如果医学专家无法提供保护部队的最佳建议，就会真正破坏国家安全，这就是一个例子，”阿德里姆说道。
阿德里姆表示，此类协调和政策评估通常会在国防部全面调整卫生政策之前进行。她指出，这种协调通常涉及五角大楼与各军种之间数周的反复沟通，能够让医学专家提供关键意见，确保政策从发布之初就具备安全性。
但就流感疫苗接种而言，处理政策豁免申请所需的数周官僚协调工作，直到赫格斯瑟已经取消强制要求后才启动。
戴维斯·温基在CNN的报道得到了Outrider基金会与新闻资助合作伙伴（JFP）的支持。CNN对报道保留完整编辑控制权。
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQ0Als06mM
US Air Force requested to bring back mandatory flu shots weeks before basic training outbreak
2026-06-24T23:00:14.386Z / https://www.cnn.com/2026/06/24/politics/flu-shot-outbreak-air-force
A worsening flu outbreak among recruits attending basic military training at Lackland Air Force Base, Texas, began earlier this month while an Air Force request to reinstate a mandatory flu shot requirement axed by Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth wound its way through the Pentagon bureaucracy, according to a defense official and a source familiar with the situation.
The outbreak “is getting worse” and has sickened at least 275 recruits since it began, Democratic Rep. Joaquin Castro of Texas, whose district includes Lackland, told CNN. The Air Force confirmed that a recruit there died in a military hospital on June 16 after experiencing a “medical emergency” a few days before, but it’s unclear whether his death is linked to the flu outbreak.
Around 60% of previously unvaccinated trainees at Lackland initially declined the flu shot during the vaccine requirement’s lapse, according to the defense official. The option to decline the vaccine was opened to recruits after an April order from Hegseth instructing Pentagon leadership to eliminate the flu shot requirement.
Hegseth’s order allowed for military services to request exemptions, but it was put into effect before those exemptions could be processed.
The vaccine mandate for Air Force recruits was restored on June 11, and within weeks, unvaccinated trainees at Lackland received the flu shot, according to the defense official and source.
But by that point the outbreak at Lackland had already gained steam.
Sean Parnell, the Pentagon’s top spokesperson, said in a statement that the Defense Department had “granted exceptions to policy” enabling mandatory vaccines for specific populations across the military.
“The decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations,” Parnell said.
When Hegseth announced via social media video in April that the flu vaccine was no longer mandatory for US troops, he said the military’s all-encompassing mandate was “overly broad and not rational.”
Hegseth’s April 20 memo implementing the change immediately made the flu shot optional for all US troops, regardless of situation or mission. The memo had instructions for how the Army, Navy, Air Force, Space Force and Marine Corps could submit packages to reinstate the vaccine requirement for certain at-risk populations.
The military branches each rushed to submit exception requests – including one for recruits at boot camp – after the Pentagon chief’s announcement, the official and source said. The Air Force submitted its exception request for basic training attendees on May 5.
But the exception requests took more than a month to get through the military bureaucracy, first clearing the office of Hegseth’s top health advisor, Keith Bass, before going to the office of Anthony Tata, the controversial retired one-star general now serving as the Pentagon’s undersecretary overseeing personnel & readiness.
Tata approved the Air Force’s request to reinstate the flu shot at basic training on June 11, according to the official and source. But by then, the outbreak among trainees at Lackland was underway – base officials did not learn until June 18 that the shots were again mandatory, according to an Air Force official.
Hegseth’s “effective immediately” method of rescinding the vaccine requirement resulted in a lapse for shots for some troops, physician and former Pentagon health official Terry Adirim argued. Adirim served as a top official in the Defense Department’s health affairs office during President Donald Trump’s first administration before returning during the Biden administration as the office’s acting chief.
“There can be a real disruption of national security if the medical experts cannot give the best advice to protect the force, and this is an example” said Adirim.
Adirim said that such coordination and policy assessments typically occur before the department implements sweeping changes to health policy. She said that coordination, which typically involves weeks of back and forth between the Pentagon and the military services, would enable medical experts to provide crucial input to ensure the policy was safe from the moment it was issued.
In the case of the flu shots, though, those weeks of bureaucratic coordination to process policy exception requests didn’t begin until Hegseth had already rolled back the requirement.
Davis Winkie’s work at CNN is supported by a partnership between Outrider Foundation and Journalism Funding Partners (JFP). CNN retains full editorial control of the reporting.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3nQ0Als06mM
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