President Donald Trump is reportedly set to reinstate service members discharged from the military under the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate.
Fox News reported Monday morning that Trump plans to sign an executive order allowing those pushed out the door to return to the military at their previous rank with back pay and benefits. Under President Joe Biden, more than 8,000 service members were booted because they chose not to get the COVID jab.
“The Executive Order directs the Secretary of Defense to reinstate all members of the military (active and reserve) who were discharged for refusing the COVID vaccine and who request to be reinstated,” a White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News says.
“From 2021 to 2023, the Biden Administration and former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin discharged over 8,000 troops solely due to their COVID-19 vaccination status,” it adds. “After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin.”
During his inaugural address last week, Trump promised he would hire back the discharged service members and give them back pay.
“This week, I will reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate with full back pay,” Trump said shortly after swearing in as president.
The Biden administration’s military vaccine mandate ended in January 2023 after Republicans in Congress led an effort to repeal it as part of the passage of the National Defense Authorization Act.
“The end of President Biden’s military COVID vaccine mandate is a victory for our military and for common sense,” then-House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-CA) said at the time. “Last week, I told the president directly: it’s time to end the COVID vaccine mandate and rehire our service members.”
An effort led by Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) and Sen. Ron Johnson (R-WI) to add an amendment to the repeal that would have rehired those discharged over the mandate failed.
In addition to the military, the Biden administration issued a vaccine mandate for federal workers and all employers with at least 100 employees, who had the option to be tested weekly instead. The vaccine-or-test rule for large businesses was struck down in a 6-3 decision by the Supreme Court in January 2022.
