American service members will no longer be required to get a yearly flu shot under a new Defense Department policy described by Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth as an effort to “restore freedom and strength to our joint force.”
In a video posted on X, the Pentagon boss cited the Biden administration’s Covid-19 policies as the impetus for ditching the unrelated but mandatory influenza inoculation, accusing his predecessors of having “waged an unrelenting war on our warriors on many fronts, including when it came to denying them simple medical autonomy and the freedom to express their religious convictions.”
Calling the Covid-19 vaccine mandate part of an “era of betrayal” that was now “over,” Hegseth said the Pentagon was discarding “absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our war fighting capabilities,” such as “the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.”
Hegseth: “Tell our WARFIGHTERS to MOVE IN ON THE ENEMY NOW! NOW, DAMN YOU, NOW!”
Warfighters: “Kaff, cough, hack, sputtle, sniff, snortle, wheeze!”
Now I’m seeing a Starship Troopers style ad for flu medications using citizens who are doing their part.
Ahaha, love it!
Though, actually, I do feel getting my flu shot is one of those doing my part things. I don’t like getting sick but I’m not super worried about getting the flu myself. But I get my shot every year because it means I’m less likely to give it to others which means, down the chain of transmission, it’s less likely to infect someone for whom it does matter.
I’ve only caught the flu maybe twice in the past couple decades. But it seems to hit me hard when I do catch it, so I get the shot for almost purely selfish reasons. I know that getting the shot helps in all the ways you point out, but for me that’s just the cherry on top.