{"id":19398,"date":"2026-04-22T18:02:41","date_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:02:41","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19398\/"},"modified":"2026-04-22T18:02:41","modified_gmt":"2026-04-22T18:02:41","slug":"hegseth-flu-vaccine-optional-u-s-department-of-war-defense-department-news","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/19398\/","title":{"rendered":"Hegseth: Flu Vaccine Optional > U.S. Department of War > Defense Department News"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Annual influenza vaccines are no longer mandatory, said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in a video posted today on social media.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance, at all times, is just overly broad and not rational,&#8221; the secretary said. &#8220;Our new policy is simple: If you, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, believe that the flu vaccine is in your best interest, then you are free to take it; you should. But we will not force you.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p lang=\"en\" dir=\"ltr\">The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force.  <\/p>\n<p>We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately. <a href=\"https:\/\/t.co\/9K5W8g0NsD\" rel=\"nofollow\">pic.twitter.com\/9K5W8g0NsD<\/a><\/p>\n<p>\u2014 Secretary of War Pete Hegseth (@SecWar) <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/SecWar\/status\/2046579973494800754?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">April 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n<p>The secretary signed a <a href=\"https:\/\/media.defense.gov\/2026\/Apr\/21\/2003915605\/-1\/-1\/1\/UPDATED-GUIDANCE-ON-INFLUENZA-VACCINATION.PDF\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">memorandum that provides updated guidance<\/a> that states, effective immediately, the annual influenza vaccine is voluntary for all active and reserve component service members and War Department civilian personnel.<\/p>\n<p>The new mandate follows similar department efforts regarding the COVID-19 vaccine.<\/p>\n<p>Between Aug. 24, 2021, and Jan. 10, 2023, the department required service members to receive the COVID-19 vaccine. Over 8,000 service members were involuntarily discharged from the military for refusing the vaccine. Hegseth said that won&#8217;t happen again.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Our men and women in uniform were forced to choose between their conscience and their country, even when those decisions posed no threat to our military readiness,&#8221; Hegseth said. &#8220;That era of betrayal is over. Under President [Donald J.] Trump, the War Department continues to take decisive action to once again restore freedom and strength to our joint force. We&#8217;re seizing this moment to discard any absurd overreaching mandates that only weaken our warfighting capabilities.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>Influenza vaccines, he said, are examples of overreaching mandates. The secretary said the decision to make it optional is common sense for the War Department and the service members.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;It&#8217;s the kind of common-sense approach we are undertaking in this department,&#8221; he said. &#8220;Rest assured that under President Trump, the War Department will always honor our brave warriors and do everything we can to restore the American people&#8217;s trust in their military for generations to come.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>            <script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Annual influenza vaccines are no longer mandatory, said Secretary of War Pete Hegseth in a video posted today&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":19399,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[493,496,500,494,11772,498,8,62,1072,11771,497,391,9,456,2713,495,499,7,1071,13],"class_list":{"0":"post-19398","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-stories","8":"tag-department-of-war","9":"tag-deputy-secretary","10":"tag-deputy-secretary-of-war","11":"tag-dow","12":"tag-flu-vaccine","13":"tag-government","14":"tag-headlines","15":"tag-health","16":"tag-hegseth","17":"tag-influenza-vaccine","18":"tag-joint-chief","19":"tag-military","20":"tag-news","21":"tag-pentagon","22":"tag-president","23":"tag-secretary","24":"tag-secretary-of-war","25":"tag-top-stories","26":"tag-trump","27":"tag-united-states"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@news\/116449676010720117","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19398","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=19398"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/19398\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/19399"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=19398"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=19398"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=19398"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}