{"id":350893,"date":"2026-06-26T02:43:16","date_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:43:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/350893\/"},"modified":"2026-06-26T02:43:16","modified_gmt":"2026-06-26T02:43:16","slug":"flu-cases-at-texas-base-hit-275-as-services-again-require-recruits-to-get-shots","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/350893\/","title":{"rendered":"Flu cases at Texas base hit 275 as services again require recruits to get shots"},"content":{"rendered":"

The number of flu cases at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas continues to rise in the wake of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth\u2019s banishment of the influenza vaccine mandate for service members.<\/p>\n

The Air Force confirmed 275 cases as of Wednesday, up from\u00a0160 just last week<\/a>, a figure Rep. Joaquin Castro (D-Texas) said the service had\u00a0relayed to his office<\/a>.<\/p>\n

In addition, four people have been hospitalized as of Tuesday,\u00a0ABC News reported<\/a>.<\/p>\n

One recruit also died June 16, though the death remains under investigation and it is not clear whether it is tied to the outbreak.<\/p>\n

The Air Force didn\u2019t immediately respond to a request for comment from The Hill.<\/p>\n

The influenza outbreak over the past three weeks has slammed the 37th Training Wing at Lackland, part of Joint Base San Antonio, where\u00a0more than 36,000 recruits<\/a>\u00a0come through annually.<\/p>\n

The incident follows Hegseth\u2019s decision in April to\u00a0end the military\u2019s mandatory flu vaccines<\/a>\u00a0for service members, arguing the changes are giving troops \u201cmedical autonomy\u201d and \u201cfreedom to express their religious convictions.\u201d<\/p>\n

At the time, he denounced the flu shot requirement \u2014 around since 1945 and in sidestep with longstanding public health directives \u2014 as an \u201cabsurd\u201d and \u201coverreaching\u201d mandate that weakens the country\u2019s warfighting capabilities. He claimed that the decision to receive a vaccine \u201cposed no threat to our military readiness.\u201d<\/p>\n

Castro, meanwhile, called it a \u201creckless\u201d decision that set the stage for an outbreak.<\/p>\n

The services appear to have heeded the influenza spread at Lackland in giving new exceptions to Hegseth\u2019s policy. The Army, Navy and Air Force reportedly are once again requiring flu shots for basic trainees, as they retain broad discretion in how to carry out Pentagon policy to address safety concerns.<\/p>\n

The Army also is looking to extend that requirement to troops deploying overseas, first responders, childcare workers, healthcare personnel, prison staff and those taking part in certain large-scale training exercises, ABC reported.<\/p>\n

Copyright 2026 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.<\/p>\n

For the latest news, weather, sports, and streaming video, head to The Hill. <\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"The number of flu cases at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas continues to rise in the wake…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":350894,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[27009,125029,123734,122033,21085,41742,76057,3310,94613,27,29,28],"class_list":["post-350893","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-texas","tag-air-force","tag-flu-cases","tag-influenza-outbreak","tag-influenza-vaccine","tag-joaquin-castro","tag-joint-base-san-antonio","tag-lackland-air-force-base","tag-pete-hegseth","tag-service-members","tag-texas","tag-texas-headlines","tag-texas-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350893","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=350893"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/350893\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/350894"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=350893"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=350893"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-tx\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=350893"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}