Air Force expands waivers for recruits with asthma, food allergies

The Air Force has expanded medical waivers to cover asthma, food allergies and hearing loss in an effort to boost recruitment, according to Air & Space Forces Magazine.

The Air Force Recruiting Service’s Accessions Medical Waiver Division decided to expand tolerances after the Air Force whiffed on recruiting goals last year for the first time since 1999, division head Col. Ian Gregory told the magazine.

Asthma, food allergies and hearing loss have the highest number of waiver requests for the service.

The waiver tolerances went into effect Nov. 1 following Assistant Secretary of the Air Force for Manpower and Reserve Affairs Alex Wagner’s approval of the additions, Air & Space Forces Magazine reported.

Between 600 and 1,000 more recruits per year are expected to join as a result of the waiver expansion, according to the magazine.

Before the new waivers, applicants would be disqualified if diagnosed with asthma, Gregory told the magazine. Now, recruits with mild asthma who rarely have to use a rescue inhaler are eligible to join if they serve in a career field that doesn’t threaten their condition, such as firefighting.

Further, airmen asthma will now receive an assignment limitation code at the outset of their service, Gregory said. The designation prevents airmen from deploying to certain locations where a physician is not readily available for medical treatment.

For food allergies, the Air Force previously disqualified applicants with any food allergy, regardless of the severity, according to Air Force & Space Forces Magazine.

The reason behind this exclusion, Gregory said, was that airmen are required to endure deployments with fluctuating circumstances which can affect diet and food consumption.

Now, individuals with mild food allergies, as well as those who have to use an EpiPen, a prescription injector used to treat allergic reactions, are eligible for a waiver. However, those who experience anaphylaxis, a life-threatening allergic reaction, are still barred from joining.

Lastly, with hearing loss, previous applicants were only accepted if they experienced mild hearing loss, out of a scale that included mild, moderate, severe and extreme.

The newly issued waiver tolerances now also include moderate hearing loss.

The Air Force would ensure that the individual didn’t enter a career field that made their hearing loss worse, Gregory said.