Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth says the U.S. military will no longer mandate the flu vaccine for American troops. He cited “medical autonomy” and religious freedom.
        • applebusch@lemmy.blahaj.zoneEnglish
          0·
          2 months ago

          How would you rank competent malice, incompetent malice, and incompetent benevolence in order of existential danger to society? I imagine the existential danger increases with both incompetence and malice, but maybe somewhere in there there’s a combination of incompetent malice that becomes unintentional benevolence.

      • jontree255@lemmy.worldEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        It’s both. But millennia of human warfare has taught us that disease can really fuck up an army.

        • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
          0·
          2 months ago

          These idiots really do be increasing how often we contemplate the Roman Empire…

          …And why we somehow allow leaders that defund history education shortly after they flunked it and went on to win a rigged popularity contest.

  • partial_accumen@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    I have to imagine flu would spread like wildfire under the close quarters conditions soldiers, sailors, and marines have to have under many circumstances.

    • plyth@feddit.orgEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      As is tradition. The Spanish flu was the American flu.

      Within days of the 4 March case at Camp Funston, 522 men at the camp had reported sick.[107] By 11 March 1918, the virus had reached Queens, New York.[108] Failure to take preventive measures in March/April was later criticized.[109]

      As the U.S. had entered World War I, the disease quickly spread from Camp Funston, a major training ground for troops of the American Expeditionary Forces, to other U.S. Army camps and Europe, becoming an epidemic in the Midwest, East Coast, and French ports by April 1918

      https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Spanish_flu

      • IamSparticles@lemmy.zipEnglish
        0·
        2 months ago

        Ah, beat me to it. Yeah, the Spanish Flu, one of the most deadly pandemics in human history, was initially spread through US military bases. It’s literally one of the reasons why we make sure soldiers are vaccinated.

        • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
          0·
          2 months ago

          they were also kept close to domesticated pigs which are the worst things to be in the vicinity when theres flus goes around. since pigs can be infected with multiple flus and act as mixing vessels more easily than humans.

      • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
        0·
        2 months ago

        and theres evidence that spanish one had h5n1 in its ancestry, it was a mixture of 4 different flu viruses which used pigs as a mixing vessel.

    • Tollana1234567@lemmy.today
      0·
      2 months ago

      TB also spreads quite easily under close quarters, only matter of time since there isnt a vaccine in the usa, and tb is quite naturally resistant to antibiotics. They likely wont even reccomend COVID vaccination too.

    • frongt@lemmy.zip
      0·
      2 months ago

      It would. Historically, disease has been a huge problem for militaries. That’s why they give you like a dozen vaccines on day one.

    • Rusticus@lemmy.worldEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      This approach is how the Spanish flu spread worldwide. US troops took it from Kansas to Europe and then 50 million people died. But I wouldn’t expect Kegbreath to know any history.

  • frongt@lemmy.zip
    0·
    2 months ago

    Hegseth’s directive does allow for the military services to request to keep the vaccine requirement in place

    And I guarantee they’re all going to do it, because they aren’t fucking morons.

  • givesomefucks@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    In boot camp there was always a few people who faked snorting the vaccines…

    They always get ridiculously sick, and if a division has a high enough percentage, everyone gets a second “peanut butter shot” as punishment.

    Because lying about taking the flu vaccine is breaking an order, and surely no recruit would do that…

    So it can’t be a virus, and the only solution is treating it as a widespread bacterial infection:

    https://www.military.com/off-duty/2020/02/10/why-most-dreaded-injection-called-peanut-butter-shot.html

    There’s more than enough idiots that if flu vaccines aren’t mandated, it’s going to run Tampa t across every single command. It’s too many people jammed too close together.

    • 🖖USS-Ethernet@startrek.websiteEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Never knew it was called that. Had to run our asses off and push earth after that shot and our instructor said they did that on purpose. TIL

  • lauha@lemmy.world
    0·
    2 months ago

    I’m sure Hegseth would agree that God isn’t real since you cannot see him with the naked eye.

    Then again, his christianity is also just a manipulation.

    • SaveTheTuaHawk@lemmy.caEnglish
      0·
      2 months ago

      Stupidity kills more people than bombs.

      In the 70s, a paper appeared that linked DDT to reduced bird populations, triggering the US Nixon government to ban DDT. The data was 100% faked by Rachel Carson.

      As a result of banning DDT, and estimated 100 million people died worldwide until DDT was brought back in 2000. Carson was given all kinds of awards, accolades and a bronze statue at Wood’s Hole. To this day, people supported her “science”.

      Shit governments listening to shit fake scientists have killed more people than Hitler and Stalin combined.

      The whole point of vaccinated army is to be the last level of support in the next flu pandemic.

  • switcheroo@lemmy.worldEnglish
    0·
    2 months ago

    One bout of flu thru there will knock them all on their asses.

    Maybe it ain’t mandatory, but if any of them were smart they’d get the vax anyway.