Navy expands annual flu shot requirement under Pentagon exemption

The Navy is once again requiring some active-duty, reserve and civilian personnel to be vaccinated annually against the flu, a move that could affect thousands.

The requirement not only includes enlisted sailors in boot camp but also extends to those in Officer Candidate School, the Naval Academy, the academy preparatory school and other training programs, according to a message to the force published Friday.

The policy further applies to staff and personnel involved in those programs and covers additional Navy sailors and civilian employees, including those working in health care, child care and youth service programs, according to the message.

Deployed service members must also be vaccinated before entering any theater or country that has an active influenza vaccination requirement, the Navy said.

“The influenza vaccine is highly encouraged to prevent outbreaks that can degrade unit readiness, disrupt training schedules, and deployment execution, which adversely impacts mission,” the Navy said in the message.

Medical department representatives should monitor for “influenza-like illness and report and respond to local or command-wide outbreaks and hospitalizations,” it said.

Last month, 275 trainees were sickened during an influenza outbreak at Air Force basic training in Texas. The outbreak came weeks after Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth rescinded a long-standing flu vaccine mandate for all active-duty personnel, reservists and Defense Department civilians.

The Pentagon later granted the Army, Air Force and Navy, the National Security Agency and the Defense Health Agency exceptions to that policy, allowing them to once again require flu vaccinations for certain personnel.

In his April announcement rescinding the flu vaccine mandate, Hegseth said individuals should be allowed to decide for themselves whether they wanted to be immunized.

“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 at the time.

In granting the exceptions, the Pentagon said the Army, Air Force and Navy were responsible for implementing the directive. The services resumed the flu vaccine requirement for basic trainees last month, ABC News reported.

The Navy message specified procedures for ordering flu vaccines and tracking vaccinations and set a Jan. 15 deadline for required personnel to receive the 2026-27 influenza vaccine.

The message also noted that some service members and civilians could be granted medical or administrative exceptions in certain circumstances.