Flu outbreak hits US base after mandatory vaccine scrapped

More than 150 recruits at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio, Texas have fallen ill with influenza, weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth made the flu vaccine optional for military personnel. The outbreak is a swift and pointed data point in the debate over vaccine mandates in the armed forces. Lackland is the US Air Force's primary basic training site, making a contagion there particularly disruptive.