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209

Hegseth cancels ‘absurd’ flu vaccine requirement for ‘brave warriors’ in military (www.independent.co.uk)

submitted 3 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/health@lemmy.world

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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.”

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[–] ChunkMcHorkle@lemmy.world 5 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago)

I know you mean the social meaning of the term culture war, but he's literally fighting a culture war in the laboratory usage of the word. He's just too goddamn stupid, or drunk, or both, to have any idea of that yet.

Lest anyone forget, the first place the Great Influenza of 1918 - 1921 was identified, and where it had its initial vast spread, was on American military bases, starting with what is now known as Fort Riley, Kansas and jumping from base to base from there:

Shortly after their arrival at Camp Funston, on either March 4 or March 11, 1918 (depending on the account), an army cook named Albert Gitchell reported sick to the infirmary with flu-like symptoms in the morning before breakfast. By midday, 107 soldiers at the camp exhibited similar symptoms, and within days, 522 men had fallen ill. This outbreak at Fort Riley was later hypothesized to be the starting point of the Spanish flu pandemic.