President Donald Trump has declared that he will be reinstating service members who were wrongfully discharged from the military over the Biden administration’s COVID vaccine mandate.
On the morning of January 27, Fox News revealed that Trump would be signing an executive order that allows all of the military members who were fired because of the vaccine to return to the military at their previous rank with back pay and benefits. President Joe Biden’s administration discharged more than 8,000 military members because they refused to get the experimental COVID vaccine.
According to the White House fact sheet obtained by Fox News, “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.”
“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,” the fact sheet continued. “After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin.”
🚨BREAKING: President Trump is bringing back over 8,000 military members who were dismissed for not getting the Covid vaccine, granting them full back pay.
Promises made. Promises kept.
— Benny Johnson (@bennyjohnson) January 27, 2025
This news comes after Trump promised to reinstate these troops during his inaugural address, meaning that this is yet another promise the president has kept in just his first week in office.
“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 soon after being sworn in as president.
I'm so pleased President Trump announced the reinstatement, with full back pay, of everyone in our military who was unjustly fired for refusing the COVID shot.
It did not prevent transmission and so vaccine mandates were NEVER justified.
Everyone who lost their jobs should be… pic.twitter.com/w8UpnECz0T
— steve hilton (@SteveHiltonx) January 21, 2025
Republican members of Congress have been working to reinstate these military members for some time now. While they succeeded in putting an end to the military vaccine mandate in January 2023 by repealing it using the National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), Republicans’ efforts to rehire these wrongfully discharged military members did not succeed — leaving the issue for Trump to fix.
