‘Major Victory’: Military Ends Flu Vaccine Mandate for All Service Members

The U.S. military today ended its flu vaccine mandate for active-duty and reserve service members and civilian personnel, effective immediately, the U.S. Department of Defense (DOD) announced today in a one-page memorandum.

In a video accompanying the announcement and posted on X, U.S. Secretary of War Pete Hegseth said the time was right to end the mandate.

“We’re seizing this moment to discard any absurd, overreaching mandates that only weaken our war-fighting capabilities,” Hegseth said. “In this case, this includes the universal flu vaccine and the mandate behind it.”

In his video, Hegseth said service members were still “free to take” the flu vaccine if they so wished, but would no longer be forced to do so.

“The notion that a flu vaccine must be mandatory for every service member, everywhere, in every circumstance, at all times, is just overly broad and not rational,” Hegseth said.

The military has required annual flu shots for its members “for years,” Fox News reported. According to a 2022 study, flu vaccine mandates in the U.S. military date back to at least 1945.

The DOD first began loosening its flu vaccine requirements last year. A May 2025 Pentagon memo ended the flu shot mandate for reservists — unless they were called to active duty for 30 consecutive days or more.

Pam Long, director of the Children’s Health Defense (CHD) Military Chapter, called today’s policy change a “major victory for individual liberty.”

“Service members were still being punished for refusal of the annual influenza vaccine up until this week,” Long said. “The military chain of command had implemented an influenza mandate for many years, which was coerced for compliance metrics and career promotion, not for the health of the force.”

Others suggested the new policy represents a return to informed consent.