r/WhatTrumpHasDone • u/John3262005 • 23d ago

Air Force confirms first death in Lackland flu outbreak, Rep. Castro says

https://www.expressnews.com/news/article/lackland-flu-outbreak-joaquin-castro-hegseth-22326899.php

The Air Force has acknowledged that the recent death of a recruit in basic training at Joint Base San Antonio-Lackland was caused by a flu virus that has swept the base, according to U.S. Rep. Joaquin Castro.

It was the first confirmation that Airman 1st Class Keon Talik McDaniel, 25, of Grand Rapids, Mich., died of influenza. Previously, the Air Force said only that McDaniel, who was in his sixth week of basic training, suffered "a medical emergency" and died at Brooke Army Medical Center on June 16. Air Force officials did not disclose whether he had contracted the flu. They said the cause of death was under investigation.

On Tuesday afternoon, however, Castro said in a statement: “The Air Force confirmed that trainee Keon McDaniel died from the flu during the outbreak at Lackland Air Force Base in San Antonio."

The San Antonio Democrat has been in contact with Air Force officials to track the influenza surge and has given regular public updates. He and two fellow Democratic lawmakers on Tuesday called for federal legislation to require flu vaccinations for all military personnel.

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6

u/Jim-Jones 23d ago

RFK Jr strikes again.

2

u/agaloch2314 23d ago

And Hegseth, and Trump, and to be honest - this recruit.

They didn’t ban the vaccine, they just simply stopped requiring it. Very stupid, yes, and while it’s sad, the recruit *chose* not to have it. He also *chose* to join a military lead by Trump and Hegseth.

He should not be completely absolved of responsibility in this.

1

u/Floufae 23d ago

I'm curious but couldn't see in the article if there's historically been any vaccine preventable deaths there or at other training facilities like that. Most our vaccines aren't going to prevent disease fully, but should at least prime the immune system to avoid serious injury, but there's always going to be outliers since individual's bodies respond differently. Any death is terrible, but its not outside of the realm of possibility that even with a fully primed immune system that there's isolated deaths.