Overview
- Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memo Tuesday making the annual flu vaccine voluntary for all active-duty, reserve, and Defense Department civilian personnel, effective immediately.
- Hegseth said the shift restores medical autonomy after COVID-era mandates and called a universal flu-shot rule "overly broad and not rational."
- Public-health experts and some lawmakers warned the change could raise flu cases in close quarters, lead to more missed duty days, and erode readiness, with the Navy–Marine Corps health command calling vaccination the best tool to limit mission disruption.
- The move follows a May 2025 step that limited flu-shot requirements for many reservists to activations of at least 30 days, and it departs from a policy first mandated in 1945 and reinstated in the early 1950s.
- The decision comes as the administration reworks vaccine policy more broadly, and experts say the practical effect for troops could be more outbreaks on bases and ships where illness spreads fast.