On Jun. 22, 2026. The Air Force announced that more than 200 service members at a Texas base have contracted the flu following a new Pentagon policy that allows flu vaccinations to be optional. Over the past three weeks, the training wing at Lackland Air Force Base has suffered from a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training, an Air Force spokesperson told Military Times.

“Medical professionals and Public Health officials have implemented mitigation measures to isolate and treat symptomatic trainees to reduce further exposure and continue to monitor the situation,” the spokesperson said.

The spokesperson declined to comment on how many trainees contracted the flu. Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, whose district includes the Lackland base, said in a social media post that there were 222 flu cases as of Thursday.

The flu outbreak comes just two months after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced that service members would no longer be required to get an annual flu vaccine, calling the previous policy that dated back to the 1950s “overly broad and not rational.”

According to an October 2025 Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division report, the vaccine helped prevent the flu’s impact among older service members and can assist in protecting the overall health of the military, especially in recruit stations, which have the highest rates of flu infections every year.