Hegseth announces end to military flu vaccine requirement

This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. ©2026 FOX News Network, LLC. All rights reserved. Quotes displayed in real-time or delayed by at least 15 minutes. Market data provided by Factset. Powered and implemented by FactSet Digital Solutions. Legal Statement. Mutual Fund and ETF data provided by LSEG. War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced in a video on X that he has signed a Pentagon order to end mandatory flu vaccinations. (Credit: X/@SecWar) War Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the end of the Pentagon's long-running flu vaccine mandate for U.S. troops. "The War Department is once again restoring freedom to our Joint Force," Hegseth announced in an X post, linking to a video statement of his signing the new policy. "We are discarding the mandatory flu vaccine requirement, effective immediately." Hegseth said service members would no longer be forced to take the annual flu shot, and instead could decide for themselves whether it was in their best interest, casting the move as part of a broader rollback of what he called overly aggressive medical mandates imposed under the Biden administration. "Our new policy is simple," Hegseth said. "If you, an A