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Guaranteed Human.

Welcome to Wellness on Mass.

I'm Dr. Nicole Sapphire, and this is your weekly rundown.

Well, today I want to update you on something that kind of went viral this week.

My old friend and colleague from Fox News, Secretary of War, Pete Hegeseth.

He made a big announcement announcing that the Pentagon will no longer require the annual flu vaccine for military service members.

Now, this mandate has been in place for decades upon decades, upon decades.

Remember Spanish influenza?

Yeah, it was a thing. It's pretty much

since we had the flu vaccine, military mandated to get it, kind of like doctors were. Now,

anytime the government removes a medical mandate, especially in the military, it's going to

spark some strong reactions. Some will call it a win for medical autonomy. Others will say it puts

readiness at risk. And as usual, the truth, it's definitely somewhere in between and more

nuance than that. So let's start with some facts. Influenza is not the same threat to a 22-year-old

Marine as it is to an 82-year-old nursing home resident with heart failure.

It's just not. And in a typical flu season, the CDC estimates millions of illnesses, hundreds of thousands of hospitalizations, and tens of thousands of deaths.

But the overwhelming majority of severe outcomes occur in older

adults, and very young children, pregnant women, and those with chronic disease and immunodeficiencies

like cancer patients. The military population, generally speaking, is younger, healthier, and undergo intense medical screening. That's why I've long

believed that medicine should move towards more of risk-based recommendations rather than one-size

fits all. Now, I've kind of personally believed this for a while. I became a little bit more

...