Editor’s Note: IFA intercessors have been praying for medical freedom from mandates for years. A welcome shift in policy from Secretary of War Pete Hegseth brought hope and relief for many military families. Now, there is pressure to return to a flu vaccine mandate, and it appears it is happening. With the release of many of the documents and evidence about the damage of wholesale mandates with no room for exmptions, urgent prayer is needed. IFA’s contacts within the Department of War indicate that there is still an ongoing investigation into the damage caused by the COVID shot mandate and how mandates should be handled going forward. Your critical prayer is needed for this issue.
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From Children’s Health Defense: Less than two months after U.S. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth ended the military’s flu vaccine mandate for service members, several branches of the armed services, including the Army, Navy and Air Force, are again requiring the flu vaccine — a response, they say, to a flu outbreak at a Texas Air Force base.
At least 222 recruits stationed at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio have been diagnosed with the flu, ABC News reported Tuesday, citing sources “familiar with the situation.”
Four of the recruits were hospitalized. One recruit, Keon McDaniel, died June 12 following a “medical emergency.”
In an interview today on CHD.TV, nephrologist Dr. Suzanne Humphries cited unconfirmed reports suggesting that McDaniel contracted pneumonia. “It still remains unclear whether his death was actually linked” to the flu outbreak, Humphries said.
Mainstream media reports — including a Washington Post editorial — linked the outbreak and McDaniel’s death to the end of the military’s flu shot mandate. But some experts cast doubt on that narrative and said they still question the need for a military flu shot mandate.
“After reviewing multiple press reports, I could find no evidence that the death … was linked to flu infection,” said internal medicine physician Dr. Clayton J. Baker. “Barring clear evidence that he died due to the flu, it is beyond irresponsible, both epidemiologically and journalistically, to link his death to the purported outbreak.”
Some experts also questioned why media reports would link the flu outbreak to the military’s recent decision to end the flu vaccine mandate, given the timing of both.
“A longer period of lower flu shot uptake, along with occurrence during peak flu season (winter, not summer), would be needed for a stronger causal case,” said epidemiologist and McCullough Foundation fellow M. Nathaniel Mead, Ph.D.
ABC News reported that the outbreak prompted several branches of the military to request exceptions to the U.S. Defense Department’s flu vaccine policy.
However, the Military Times reported last month, before the Texas outbreak, that several branches requested the exceptions soon after Hegseth announced the new policy.
An Air Force spokesperson told The Defender, “Over the last three weeks, the 37th Training Wing, in close coordination with the 59th Medical Wing, has been managing a localized influenza outbreak among trainees at Basic Military Training.” This led the Air Force to implement “mitigation measures” at that facility.
Chief Pentagon Spokesman Sean Parnell told The Defender that the department received several requests for “exceptions to the policy.”
Parnell said these requests were granted “following a comprehensive review … and in line with standard Department of War practice for adapting force health protection measures to critical operational realities.”
According to Parnell, the decisions “were based upon thorough risk assessments and are designed to maximize operational readiness, lethality, and force generation, while safeguarding at-risk populations.”
Other branches that granted exceptions include the National Security Agency and the Defense Health Agency.
However, the Air Force spokesperson did not clarify whether McDaniel’s death was linked to the flu or to his vaccination status, which has not been publicly disclosed.
Mead said it’s unlikely flu was the direct cause of McDaniel’s death.
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(Excerpt from The Epoch Times. Photo Credit: Elen Sher on Unsplash)
