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.”
I tend to get it every year, my company offers it for free to all employees. In Aus it’s typically free for the elderly but you need to pay for it if you get it at a chemist. Every large employer I’ve worked for has offered it for free to employees. Is a simple low cost solution for lowering sick leave across the workforce without setting up a toxic culture of working when you’re sick.