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June 24 (Reuters) - The U.S. military has resumed requiring flu vaccines for some service members in an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth's guidance declaring the shots voluntary two months ago.
The decision follows a flu outbreak among recruits at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland in Texas and sharp criticism of the policy from public health experts. More than 220 recruits have been diagnosed with influenza and four hospitalized in the outbreak this month, according to media reports.
Hegseth said in April that the annual flu vaccine would become optional for all U.S. military personnel under the Pentagon's new vaccine policy. It had previously been mandated and considered critical to troop preparedness.
The Under Secretary for War Personnel and Readiness approved exception requests for the Army, Navy, Air Force, National Security Agency and Defense Health Agency, according to a statement from chief Pentagon spokesperson Sean Parnell on Wednesday.
"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.
Each department is responsible for implementation, the spokesperson added.
The World Health Organization recommends the flu shot for those age 6 months and older.
Trump administration Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime anti-vaccine activist, has enacted policies that have decreased the use of inoculations in the U.S., including dropping its 2025 flu vaccine campaign. Kennedy's Make America Healthy Again movement has sought to weaken school enrollment mandates around the country.
Flu vaccines from Sanofi, CSL Seqirus, GSK and AstraZeneca are approved in the United States.
(Reporting by Idrees Ali, Mariam Sunny and Mrinalika Roy; Editing by Caroline Humer and Bill Berkrot)
