Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base • Hacker News Board

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#141

Post by hammock » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 1:28 PM UTC

Terr_ wrote: post #103

hammock wrote: post #84

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> If it was Ebola instead of COVID-19, 1000% guaranteed that all those antivaxxers would have been banging down the doors to get a vaccine Sadly, no. There is a theory that Ebola cases are really just arsenic poisoning from the mines in the area. That’s the kind of narrative that would take hold realistically. I would also point out that prior to Bidens election it was mostly Democrats who were saying they weren’t go…

> prior to Bidens election it was mostly Democrats who were saying they weren’t going to take the vaccine Nope, look at Figure 10 in this poll [0]. Asked about a hypothetical vaccine in the next ~2 months before the election was held, the answer "Yes, would want to get vaccinated" was 50% for Democrats and only 36% for Republicans. Democrats may have become more confident after the election--for damn good reasons--bu…

I appreciate the data and am prepared to concede the point. It seems like a mixed result though, as quite a bit of sentiment did flip after the election. From your study:

“85% of Democrats say they are worried the FDA will rush to approve a vaccine, while fewer Republicans (35%) express this level of concern. Notably, women are more likely than men to say they are worried the FDA will rush to approve a vaccine (70% vs. 55%).”

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#142

Post by hammock » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 1:31 PM UTC

runjake wrote: post #111

hammock wrote: post #83

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Did we ever get a vaccine for trench foot?

No, because trench foot is something not treatable by vaccines. However, we did receive a lot of training in how to avoid and treat it, along with better equipment. Does that count as a “vaccine”?

> Did we ever get a vaccine for trench foot?

> No, because trench foot is something not treatable by vaccines.

Isn’t that tautological?

History and the future are full of things that can be treated with a vaccine that were not previously.

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#143

Post by krapp » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 1:32 PM UTC

vitally3643 wrote: post #137

jemmyw wrote: post #109

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The US has a volunteer army, if you don't want to do army things why be there in the first place?

Young people want the benefits like the promised free college, but don't want to get sent off to die for a cause nobody believes in and nobody approved.

Add this to the list of reasons the US will never have nationalized free education or even student loan reform.

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#144

Post by JeremyNT » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 1:34 PM UTC

jemmyw wrote: post #109

sandworm101 wrote: post #27

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The covid refusal also became a scam. If you refused then you couldnt be deployed. But it tool months to kick people out. So people who didnt want to deploy would refuse and then agree to get the shot at the last minute. So it kept them home for up to six months while thier buddies went overseas..

The US has a volunteer army, if you don't want to do army things why be there in the first place?

More accurate to call it a mercenary army. These people presumably collected paychecks and benefits the whole time.

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#145

Post by fhdkweig » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:31 PM UTC

Terr_ wrote: post #76

Terr_ wrote: post #65

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I dare a grammarian to take the above-sentence and diagram it out. No, I'm not "feigning surprise", I am legitimately struggling to figure out exactly who's being blamed for what.

Some minutes later, and this is my best guess in the form of original with code comments. I got to the end and then backfilled the group names. There's a double layer of irony here, # There is something wrong and hypocritical. # where the people # People who thought vaccines were good criticizing people # criticized anti-vaxxers, of the ignorance # saying the anti-vaxxers didn't realize of "unintended" consequences #…

> Compare to: "Well, the car I was driving is wrecked, and it's all your fault! You should have known that I don't like being told what do to, so by telling me to slow down you forced me to accelerate into that barrier to prove that you aren't the boss of me. We could have avoided this whole mess if you'd simply babied my special needs and irrationalities like an adult."

This is also known as "Look what you made me do."

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#146

Post by Starman_Jones » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:38 PM UTC

hammock wrote: post #142

runjake wrote: post #111

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, because trench foot is something not treatable by vaccines. However, we did receive a lot of training in how to avoid and treat it, along with better equipment. Does that count as a “vaccine”?

> Did we ever get a vaccine for trench foot? > No, because trench foot is something not treatable by vaccines. Isn’t that tautological? History and the future are full of things that can be treated with a vaccine that were not previously.

I apologize if I’m missing the point you’re making, but trench foot and vaccines are completely unrelated.

Vaccines fundamentally impact viruses. Trench foot is not caused by a virus, or any infection. It’s more akin to frostbite.

We’re really pushing the boundaries of what we can do with vaccines, but the root cause of trench foot is poor circulation, and a vaccine can’t really fix that.

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#147

Post by [deleted] » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:40 PM UTC

hackingonempty wrote: post #134

iJohnDoe wrote: post #96

Earlier quoted context omitted.

All of this talk about reality is giving them way too much credit. The simple fact is that we’re dealing with idiots and pure stupidity. Idiots elected them and the idiots are having their day in the sun. Unfortunately, their stupidity is no longer contained to the office environments and executive leadership roles they had before. They are unfortunately able to make decisions that affect the general population. The…

Secretary Hegseth earned a BA from Princeton and an MPP from Harvard. Princeton and Harvard are graduating idiots?

[deleted]

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#148

Post by fhdkweig » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 2:56 PM UTC

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #71

nolok wrote: post #34

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The vaccine was mandatory, like in pretty much every army base of every half developed country, because not having it mandatory led to infection waves and in the army that's even worse than in genpop. The reasons for not doing the vaccine anymore were, essentially, "the vaccine is more dangerous than the sickness" and "the vaccine is not necessary to avoid the sickness". Both of those statement are, factually, scient…

> because not having it mandatory led to infection waves and in the army that's even worse than in genpop It also makes a stupidly-obvious tactic viable for the enemy.

Specifically, there is a reason the US military still vaccinates for smallpox, a virus that was eradicated world-wide 50 years ago. As a civilian, you can't get it even if you wanted it, but as a soldier, you have to take it even if you don't want it.

There is also the legend of sieging cities by catapulting diseased cows over the city walls. And if anyone knows the citation for that story, I'd love to see it.

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#149

Post by Balgair » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 3:27 PM UTC

jqpabc123 wrote: post #118

hackingonempty wrote: post #57

"Under President [Donald J.] Trump, the War Department continues to take decisive action to once again restore freedom and strength to our joint force. We're seizing this moment to discard any absurd overreaching mandates that only weaken our warfighting capabilities." - Secretary Hegseth in April 2026 War is peace. Freedom is slavery. Ignorance is strength.

And stupidity is intelligence. Democracy dies when stupid people become convinced that they know best and have all the answers.

Wait no?

Democracy works exactly because of this?

We just poll all the people, including the dumb ones, and then average out the answers. The dumbs all cancel out in the end. (Yes, of course, I know it is a lot more complex than this)

The whole point of democracy is that we don't know what is the dumb or smart answer so we have these complex functions and dances to squeeze out the best one we can think of at the time. (Yes, I know that the reasons for states to turn democratic are complex)

Re: Military branches restore flu shot requirement after virus swept through base

#150

Post by JumpCrisscross » Fri, Jun 26, 2026, 3:31 PM UTC

fhdkweig wrote: post #148

JumpCrisscross wrote: post #71

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> because not having it mandatory led to infection waves and in the army that's even worse than in genpop It also makes a stupidly-obvious tactic viable for the enemy.

Specifically, there is a reason the US military still vaccinates for smallpox, a virus that was eradicated world-wide 50 years ago. As a civilian, you can't get it even if you wanted it, but as a soldier, you have to take it even if you don't want it. There is also the legend of sieging cities by catapulting diseased cows over the city walls. And if anyone knows the citation for that story, I'd love to see it.

"The earliest documented incident of the intention to use biological weapons is possibly recorded in Hittite texts of 1500–1200 BC, in which victims of tularemia were driven into enemy lands, causing an epidemic" [1].

Smallpox is a can of worms. But if you learn your enemy are idiots and don't have a flu vaccine, and you know your own forces do, I don't think you're going to get yourself sanctioned by your trade partners for exposing them to the flu. It will take out a statistically-measurable fraction of their troops, at a predictable interval, something you can plan to exploit with manoeuvre.

[1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_biological_warfare#...