Trump reinstates troops discharged over COVID-19 vaccine mandate, restoring ranks and back pay

• President Trump signed an executive order to reinstate military members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
• The order reverses the Biden administration’s mandate, which led to over 8,000 discharges.
• Trump criticizes the mandate as unfair and unnecessary, ordering the reinstatement of those who request it.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order on Monday to reinstate service members who were discharged from the military for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine. The order, which Trump promised during his inauguration, restores these individuals to their previous ranks and provides them with back pay and benefits.

This move comes as a significant reversal of the Biden administration’s policy, which had mandated the vaccine for all service members, leading to the dismissal of over 8,000 troops from 2021 to 2023.

“The vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members,” Trump wrote in the executive order. “Further, the military unjustly discharged those who refused the vaccine, regardless of the years of service given to our Nation, after failing to grant many of them an exemption that they should have received. Federal Government redress of any wrongful dismissals is overdue.”

The executive order directs the Secretary of Defense to reinstate all members of the military, both active and reserve, who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to be reinstated. According to the White House fact sheet, only 43 of the more than 8,000 troops dismissed under the Biden administration returned to service after the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023.

A victory for freedom

Retired U.S. Army bomb disposal expert and Florida Republican Rep. Brian Mast praised Trump’s action, calling it a “great day for patriots, a great day for our service members, my brothers and sisters in arms.” Mast, who introduced legislation in 2023 to require military departments to reinstate individuals who refused the vaccine, highlighted the broader implications of the mandate.

“Let’s not forget… it wasn’t just the military. It was other government agencies as well, where they were essentially washing conservatives that were raising their hand, saying, ‘I don’t want to take this vaccine,'” Mast said.

Louisiana Republican Sen. John Kennedy also lauded Trump’s decision, emphasizing the principle behind the mandate. “There were a lot of younger people who said, ‘This is a government vaccine, at least government-funded,’ and they don’t completely trust the government, and on principle, they said, ‘We don’t want to take the vaccine. Dr. Fauci… he made them [take the vaccine]. He tried to establish complete control over everybody. Why did he do that? In my opinion, he was scared,” Kennedy said.

The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate, implemented in August 2021, required all service members to be vaccinated by November of that year. The mandate was lifted in January 2023 as part of an annual defense spending bill. However, the impact of the mandate on military readiness and recruitment was significant. In February 2022, then-Secretary of the Army Christine Wormuth claimed that “unvaccinated soldiers present risk to the force and jeopardize readiness,” leading to swift “involuntary administrative separation proceedings” for those who did not comply.

Despite the mandate, fewer than 100 members of the military died from COVID-19, and over 2,700 were hospitalized, according to the Department of Defense. The mandate’s effectiveness in preventing the spread of the virus has been questioned, with critics arguing that it was an overreach of federal authority and a violation of personal freedoms.

President Trump’s executive order to reinstate service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine marks a significant step toward correcting what many see as an unjust policy. By restoring these individuals to their previous ranks and providing back pay, Trump is not only righting a wrong but also reinforcing the importance of personal choice and freedom in the military. This move underscores the new administration’s commitment to respecting the principles that service members swear to defend, even when those principles are at odds with government mandates.

Sources for this article include:

RT.com

FoxNews.com

Axios.com