A historical analysis of vaccine mandates in the United States military and its application to the COVID-19 vaccine mandate

https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9376337/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--9GNq-j4GA32rlDwhPTlptuTUn46z49LyvWxMpRBiXQm0PXhRm688JKwdsM21tmv05L6rBjYWs0-SMgCybcUhYbO5eYg&_hsmi=415011283&utm_content=415011283&utm_source=hs_email After more than half a century of mandatory vaccination, the U.S. military will no longer require all American troops to get the flu shot, Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announced yesterday. He said that service members will not be forced to get the shot “because your body, your faith, and your convictions are not negotiable.” The AP has more details. Some interesting background that STAT editor Zachary Tracer pulled up: The history of these military mandates goes all the way back to 1777, when George Washington demanded all soldiers be inoculated against smallpox — something they did by smearing pus from a sick person into a small cut on a healthy person’s skin. When it comes to the flu vaccine specifically, the U.S. military pushed for the development of a shot after the 1918 pandemic, which killed more than 26,000 soldiers. The military first mandated the flu vaccine in 1945, and it’s been consistently required since the early 1950s. https://www.statnews.com/2026/04/21/flu-vaccine-military-no-longer-required-hegseth/?utm_campaign=morning_rounds&utm_medium=email&_hsenc=p2ANqtz--QkuFvwrt5TVX5bY_xPeAGhzZBi3BMH4sjjWgX2BWQ-clMW0JQh2_CWsdxMpDf2F-RpfjEZ4Vo1f4E-ACS5oxzHHFEBA&_hsmi=415011283&utm_content=415011283&utm_source=hs_email