Whopper of the Week: RFK Jr. Places Flu “Freedom” Above Military Readiness

Whopper of the Week: 

RFK Jr. places flu "freedom" above military Readiness

"Secretary Hegseth was just recognizing that these soldiers being sent over to fight for our freedoms and that they should have some freedom too." –Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during the Senate Committee Hearing on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions April 22, 2026

SUMMARY: 

On Apr 21, 2026 Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced the flu vaccine will no longer be required for U.S. service members. When asked about this decision during a recent Senate committee hearing, Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F. Kennedy, Jr. said, “The flu shot is often ineffective, [it] has a 20% efficacy rate.” Kennedy exaggerates. The effectiveness of flu vaccines in preventing illness and complications varies year to year, depending on the match between the circulating viral strains, the vaccine composition and population immunity. This past year, the vaccine was on average 36% effective, but it has been as high as 60% in other years. Kennedy purposefully minimized vaccine effectiveness to justify Secretary Hegseth’s policy. Unfortunately, individual medical “freedom” will compromise our military readiness if influenza vaccines become optional.

WHY IS THIS A WHOPPER?

Infectious diseases have been a threat to military readiness since long before the United States became a country. Prior to World War I, soldiers were more often killed by infectious diseases than by combat. In 1777, George Washington described smallpox as “more destructive than the sword.” He ordered that the Continental Army be immunized against smallpox, creating the first U.S. military vaccination policy and contributing to the colonists’ victory in the Revolutionary War. During the Civil War, roughly two-thirds of the 660,000 military deaths were caused by pneumonia, typhoid, dysentery, and malaria.  

The 1918 influenza pandemic infected approximately 26% of the U.S. Army, more than a million soldiers, and caused roughly 45,000 military deaths during World War I. The epidemic is believed to have started in Haskell County, Kansas where young healthy people were dying of a virulent strain of influenza and the pneumonias that followed. The local army base, Camp Funston, fueled its spread, which happened in three increasingly deadly waves, across the country and around the world. In the 1940s, the U.S. military required vaccination against yellow fever, tetanus, and typhoid, making World War II the first major war where combat killed more soldiers than infections did. The influenza vaccine first became mandatory in the military in 1945, right after it was licensed.  

According to an October 2025 Armed Forces Health Surveillance Division report, mandatory influenza vaccines have been a major factor in keeping the rate of hospitalizations among service members much lower than the national average for the same ages.  

In the military, influenza immunization rates are higher (>90%) than in the general U.S. population (27-38%), and hospitalization rates are much lower for all age groups between 18-49 years. In the general population, older adults are hospitalized for influenza more frequently than younger adults. In the military, the highest hospitalization rates were seen in those under age 25, women, and in the Marine Corps. Immunization is important because soldiers with influenza can be bedbound for days. Military trainees have historically been vulnerable to acute respiratory disease due to relative immune compromise from physical, environmental, and psychological stress. Multiple studies have reported that recruits have a higher incidence of influenza-like illnesses compared to non-recruits. Recruits are housed and work in close quarters. Isolation is difficult or sometimes impossible (think of submarines).  Moreover, in war time, sleep conditions and nutrition may not be ideal. Stress of combat can compromise the immune system and make people more vulnerable to infections. Even if a soldier recovers from an acute infection with influenza, the immune system remains vulnerable to bacterial infections and pneumonia for weeks after. Service members face  different risks than the general population. 

WHY IT MATTERS?

Kennedy and Hegseth are making a significant strategic error in removing the influenza vaccine requirement. The fewer vaccinated military personnel there are, the more illness will result, and the less combat ready the U.S. will be when influenza strikes, which it does annually. Every year be 10 to 50 million Americans develop symptomatic influenza. A particularly virulent flu strain could emerge anytime, as happened in Camp Funston, Kansas in 1918, which could significantly compromise the U.S. military’s response or fuel a future pandemic. Worse yet, low service member influenza vaccination rates could become a national security vulnerability, which adversaries could try to exploit, putting both military and civilian populations at risk. 

Not vaccinating our troops will have predictable economic impacts on top of the potential security vulnerabilities. Epidemiologist Katelin Jetelina did some ‘back of the napkin’ calculations and estimated the military immunization requirement saves 30,000-98,000 duty days a year from the flu, which amounts to about  $10-40 million in taxpayer dollars. The 2009/2010 H1N1 pandemic, which was a particularly severe strain, cost the Department of Defense $100 million more compared to influenza-related health care costs incurred in previous influenza seasons.  

The military still has 15 days from Hegseth’s announcement on April 21 to request the flu vaccine requirement remain in place. Let’s hope that lessons can be learned from history.  Removing the influenza vaccine requirement will mean a sicker military, all in the name of medical freedom.
 

Contributors to this post are:  Aurora Horstkamp, M.D., Benedicte Callan, Ph.D., Bruce Mirken, Kathylynn Saboda, M.S.