2026年6月24日 / 美国东部时间晚上9:22 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
美国五角大楼一名官员周三向哥伦比亚广播公司证实，本月早些时候，美国所有军种重新要求新兵接种流感疫苗，这是国防部长皮特·赫格斯瑟解除美军疫苗强制令决定的一项例外情况。
据一名知情的国会工作人员向哥伦比亚广播公司透露，此次政策调整之际，位于得克萨斯州的拉克兰空军基地——美国空军基本军事训练项目所在地——正应对一场流感疫情，近几周已有275人感染。早在拉克兰基地的疫情被公开披露之前，美军就已经启动了恢复新兵疫苗强制令的流程。
美国空军发言人上周向哥伦比亚广播公司表示，拉克兰基地的部队已经实施了防疫缓解措施，正在监测可能暴露于病毒的受训人员，并使用达菲等抗病毒药物治疗出现症状的受训人员。
赫格斯瑟于4月下旬宣布，将“立即生效”的现役军人年度流感疫苗接种政策改为自愿接种。他在社交媒体发布的视频中称，强制要求人员接种疫苗“过于宽泛且不合理”。
据该国会工作人员透露，到5月初，所有军种都正式申请了豁免权，以保留对特定军人强制接种流感疫苗的要求，并于6月初获得批准。该工作人员表示，此类豁免通常适用于居住在集体环境中的人员、医护人员等易感人群。
五角大楼发言人肖恩·帕内尔上周在一份声明中表示，针对自愿流感疫苗接种政策的例外情况是在“全面审查”后出台的。
帕内尔称：“这些决定基于全面的风险评估，旨在最大限度提升作战准备状态、杀伤力和部队生成能力，同时保护易感人群。美国国防部始终致力于维护我们作战人员和文职人员的健康与战备状态。”
周三，当被置评请求时，五角大楼将哥伦比亚广播公司引述了帕内尔此前的声明。
2022年一份关于美军疫苗强制令的分析报告显示，流感疫苗于1945年首次被强制要求为部队接种，累计接种量达数百万剂。该要求于1949年被取消，后于20世纪50年代恢复，直到赫格斯瑟发布命令前，流感疫苗接种一直是强制要求。
长期以来，五角大楼一直要求人员接种包括乙型肝炎、麻疹、腮腺炎和风疹在内的多种疾病疫苗。2021年美国国会研究服务局的一份报告指出，美军的疫苗接种计划可以追溯到美国独立战争时期乔治·华盛顿将军领导的大陆军。
拜登政府也曾要求现役军人接种新冠疫苗，导致数千名拒绝接种的人员自愿或非自愿离开军队。该强制令于2023年被取消，去年特朗普总统批准了拒绝接种新冠疫苗的军人复职。
Military requiring flu vaccines for recruits as Air Force base deals with outbreak
June 24, 2026 / 9:22 PM EDT / CBS News
All branches of the U.S. military began once again requiring their recruits to get flu vaccines earlier this month, an exception to Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth’s decision to lift the military’s vaccine mandate, a Pentagon official confirmed to CBS News on Wednesday.
The news comes as Lackland Air Force Base in Texas — home to the Air Force’s Basic Military Training program — grapples with a flu outbreak that has infected 275 people in recent weeks, a congressional staffer with knowledge of the matter told CBS News. The process of reinstating the mandate for recruits began before the Lackland outbreak was publicly acknowledged.
The unit at Lackland has implemented mitigation measures, is monitoring trainees who may have been exposed and is treating symptomatic trainees with antiviral medications such as Tamiflu, an Air Force spokesperson told CBS News last week.
Hegseth announced in late April that he was making the annual flu vaccine voluntary for service members “effective immediately.” In a video posted to social media, Hegseth said requiring people to get vaccinated was “overly broad and not rational.”
By early May, all military departments had formally requested exemptions that allow them to keep requiring flu vaccinations for certain service members, and those exemptions were granted in early June, according to the congressional staffer. The exemptions typically apply to vulnerable populations like people who live in communal environments, healthcare workers and other categories, the staffer said.
Chief Pentagon spokesman Sean Parnell said in a statement last week that exceptions to the voluntary flu vaccine policy had been issued following a “comprehensive review.”
“The decisions were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations,” Parnell said. “The Department remains committed to the health and readiness of our warfighters and civilian personnel.”
Asked for comment Wednesday, the Pentagon referred CBS News to Parnell’s earlier statement.
The flu vaccine was first mandated for troops in 1945, leading to millions of vaccinations, according to a 2022 analysis of vaccine mandates in the military. The requirement was lifted in 1949 but reinstated in the 1950s, and flu vaccines remained mandatory until Hegseth’s order.
The Pentagon has long required personnel to get vaccinated against a range of diseases from hepatitis B to measles, mumps and rubella. Military vaccination programs date back to Gen. George Washington’s leadership of the Continental Army during the Revolutionary War, a 2021 Congressional Research Service report notes.
The Biden administration also required service members to receive COVID-19 vaccines, leading thousands of people who declined to get vaccinated to voluntarily or involuntarily leave the military. That mandate was lifted in 2023, and last year, President Trump authorized service members who refused the COVID-19 vaccine to be reinstated.