NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte and U.S. Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth attend a meeting of the North Atlantic Council (NAC) during the NATO Defence Ministers' meeting at the alliance's headquarters in Brussels, Belgium, June 18, 2026. REUTERS/Stoyan Nenov
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is causing needless suffering within the military ranks by eliminating the universal flu vaccine mandate, according to a new analysis.
More than 160 soldiers at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas because of a growing influenza outbreak, which may have killed at least one person in basic training, according to a new editorial from The Washington Post's editorial board. Since the new mandate was handed down in April, at least half of Air Force cadets have skipped getting the shot, and that is part of why the virus is spreading, the editorial added.
"If it wasn’t already clear why Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to eliminate the military’s universal flu vaccine mandate was an exceptionally bad idea, it should be now," the editors wrote.
The influenza outbreak is happening at a time when the U.S. is engaged in a protracted conflict with Iran, which seems likely to start heating up after peace talks fell apart this week. Vice President JD Vance was scheduled to travel to Switzerland on Friday to sign an agreement between the U.S. and Iran that was brokered last weekend, but abruptly canceled the plans late Thursday night.
The Washington Post editors also took aim at Hegseth's excuse for revising the vaccine mandate, arguing that it makes the military less war-ready.
"When Hegseth announced the new vaccine policy, he claimed that 'overly broad' mandates 'only weaken our war-fighting capabilities' and stressed that his rollback would 'restore freedom and strength to our joint force,'" the editors wrote.
"In reality, his apparent motive was pandering to anti-vaccine elements inside President Donald Trump’s coalition," they added. "Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a former trial lawyer who has profited from lawsuits against vaccine manufacturers, continues plotting to make it harder for people to get immunizations. Never mind that Trump himself received the flu and COVID vaccines last fall."
"The secretary cannot stop seasonal diseases like the flu, but unnecessarily ruling out ways to mitigate harm only degrades military readiness," they continued.