Whisky Pete FAFO
George Washington famously required his army to be innoculated against smallpox. Not because he was woke, but because he understood how devastating this viral infection could be and how protective immunity was.
Whisky Pete, knowing more than our founding father and first president, made the flu vaccine optional. How’d that work out?
“Last week, news broke that an influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas had caused around 160 people to become sick.
“The timing was both bizarre and not. On one hand, the U.S. armed forces ended its flu vaccine mandate in April. On the other, a flu outbreak in June is unusual.
“Indeed, after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the policy, an influenza outbreak in military barracks seemed inevitable. But so soon? That may have surprised some. But, in retrospect, it shouldn’t have.”
*snip*
“. . . Hegseth did not break epidemiology. He merely stumbled into the mathematically inevitable “find out” phase of his “FAFO” approach to vaccinating our nation’s newest influx of Air Force recruits.”
The adults in the room, who pay more attention to preparedness than to hair product, adopted a different approach.
“Military officials in the Army, Navy, and Air Force reportedly took action this week to once again require flu shots for basic trainees . . . “
How contagious a pathogen is depends not only on the pathogen but upon the host. The best conditions for a pathogen is host ignorance or indifference. For all his chest thumping about American war-fighters, he doesn’t seem to understand military readiness. Viruses don’t care what you look like on Fox News.
US military resumes flu vaccination requirement for basic trainees
Whisky Pete, knowing more than our founding father and first president, made the flu vaccine optional. How’d that work out?
“Last week, news broke that an influenza outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in Texas had caused around 160 people to become sick.
“The timing was both bizarre and not. On one hand, the U.S. armed forces ended its flu vaccine mandate in April. On the other, a flu outbreak in June is unusual.
“Indeed, after Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth announced the policy, an influenza outbreak in military barracks seemed inevitable. But so soon? That may have surprised some. But, in retrospect, it shouldn’t have.”
*snip*
“. . . Hegseth did not break epidemiology. He merely stumbled into the mathematically inevitable “find out” phase of his “FAFO” approach to vaccinating our nation’s newest influx of Air Force recruits.”
The adults in the room, who pay more attention to preparedness than to hair product, adopted a different approach.
“Military officials in the Army, Navy, and Air Force reportedly took action this week to once again require flu shots for basic trainees . . . “
How contagious a pathogen is depends not only on the pathogen but upon the host. The best conditions for a pathogen is host ignorance or indifference. For all his chest thumping about American war-fighters, he doesn’t seem to understand military readiness. Viruses don’t care what you look like on Fox News.
US military resumes flu vaccination requirement for basic trainees
Joel:
I do not know what sleeping arrangements are today in the military. At Lejeune in each building housing us was row upon row of bunkbeds separated by lockers. You can not get much closer than this. If one gets sick, then the possibility of the others getting sick as well multiplies without the inoculation. We were too close to prevent such from passing amongst us.