Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. military will no longer mandate the flu vaccine for American troops. He cited “medical autonomy” and religious freedom.
  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    121·
    3 days ago

    I have to imagine flu would spread like wildfire under the close quarters conditions soldiers, sailors, and marines have to have under many circumstances.

    • frongt@lemmy.zip
      85·
      3 days ago

      It would. Historically, disease has been a huge problem for militaries. That’s why they give you like a dozen vaccines on day one.

    • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
      46·
      3 days ago

      As is tradition. The Spanish flu was the American flu.

      Within days of the 4 March case at Camp Funston, 522 men at the camp had reported sick.[107] By 11 March 1918, the virus had reached Queens, New York.[108] Failure to take preventive measures in March/April was later criticized.[109]

      As the U.S. had entered World War I, the disease quickly spread from Camp Funston, a major training ground for troops of the American Expeditionary Forces, to other U.S. Army camps and Europe, becoming an epidemic in the Midwest, East Coast, and French ports by April 1918

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

      • IamSparticles@lemmy.zipEnglish
        11·
        3 days ago

        Ah, beat me to it. Yeah, the Spanish Flu, one of the most deadly pandemics in human history, was initially spread through US military bases. It’s literally one of the reasons why we make sure soldiers are vaccinated.

        • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
          2·
          3 days ago

          they were also kept close to domesticated pigs which are the worst things to be in the vicinity when theres flus goes around. since pigs can be infected with multiple flus and act as mixing vessels more easily than humans.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
        3·
        3 days ago

        and theres evidence that spanish one had h5n1 in its ancestry, it was a mixture of 4 different flu viruses which used pigs as a mixing vessel.

    • Rusticus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      28·
      3 days ago

      This approach is how the Spanish flu spread worldwide. US troops took it from Kansas to Europe and then 50 million people died. But I wouldn’t expect Kegbreath to know any history.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
      2·
      3 days ago

      TB also spreads quite easily under close quarters, only matter of time since there isnt a vaccine in the usa, and tb is quite naturally resistant to antibiotics. They likely wont even reccomend COVID vaccination too.