Struggle Secretary Pete Hegseth introduced the top of the Pentagon’s long-running flu vaccine mandate for US troops.
“The Struggle Division is as soon as once more restoring freedom to our Joint Power,” Hegseth introduced in an X put up, linking to a video assertion of his signing the brand new coverage.
“We’re discarding the obligatory flu vaccine requirement, efficient instantly.”
Hegseth stated service members would not be pressured to take the annual flu shot, and as an alternative might determine for themselves whether or not it was of their greatest curiosity, casting the transfer as a part of a broader rollback of what he known as overly aggressive medical mandates imposed beneath the Biden administration.
“Our new coverage is easy,” Hegseth stated.
“If you happen to, an American warrior entrusted to defend this nation, imagine that the flu vaccine is in your greatest curiosity, then you’re free to take it, you need to.”
“However we is not going to pressure you.”
The announcement seems to go additional than a Pentagon coverage shift disclosed final fall, when an inside memo confirmed the division had already begun scaling again the flu shot requirement, no less than for some troops.
Hegseth framed the change as a matter of private liberty, spiritual freedom and navy readiness.
Within the video, he accused the Biden administration of forcing troops to decide on “between their conscience and their nation” and stated that interval was over beneath President Trump.
“On this case, this consists of the common flu vaccine and the mandate behind it,” Hegseth stated.
“The notion {that a} flu vaccine should be obligatory for each service member in all places in each circumstance always is simply overly broad and never rational.”
The Pentagon had required annual flu vaccinations throughout the pressure for years, arguing that widespread immunization helped shield readiness, particularly in close-quarter navy settings the place sickness can unfold rapidly.
A memo obtained by The Related Press and reported in September 2025 confirmed the division had already softened that stance.
That memo, signed Might 29 by Deputy Protection Secretary Steve Feinberg, stated reservists would solely be required to get the flu shot in the event that they have been on energetic obligation for 30 days or extra.
It additionally stated the navy would not pay for reservists or Nationwide Guard members to get vaccinated on their very own time.
On the time, the coverage change was not publicly introduced, and the memo itself despatched blended alerts. Whereas it stated the division would require seasonal flu vaccination “solely when doing so most immediately contributes to readiness,” it additionally appeared to depart the annual requirement in place for active-duty service members.
Hegseth’s new announcement suggests the administration is now shifting past these restricted exemptions and ending the common mandate altogether.
The transfer suits right into a broader Trump administration effort to revisit navy vaccine coverage, notably after the bitter combat over the COVID-19 vaccine.
Hegseth explicitly linked the flu shot determination to that earlier controversy, saying, “You already know what I’m speaking about, what occurred [with] COVID-19 and the vaccine. No extra.”
“That period of betrayal is over,” Hegseth declared.
The administration has already supplied again pay to service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine beneath Biden, and has inspired them to return to uniform.
Hegseth made clear the administration intends for the change to be a sharp break from previous coverage.
“Your physique, your religion, and your convictions should not negotiable,” he stated. “It’s frequent sense.”
