President Donald Trump is expected to reinstate thousands of troops thrown out of the military for refusing the COVID vaccine, DailyMail.com can confirm.
Trump plans to sign an executive order this week to return roughly 8,000 service members to their original rank with back pay and benefits after they were discharged under President Joe Biden’s administration.
Service members who refused to comply with Biden’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate lost their jobs in the fallout from the coronavirus pandemic, and many were given general or other-than-honorable discharges, which impacted veterans benefits.
Now, Trump plans to ‘correct an injustice’ and restore them to their prior rank – making good on another campaign promise within just one week of taking back the White House.
‘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,’ according to a White House fact sheet on the order reviewed by DailyMail.com.
During his confirmation hearing earlier this month, Trump’s Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said troops who were fire over the ‘experimental vaccine’ will be welcomed back.
‘In President Trump’s Defense Department, they will be apologized to, they will be reinstituted (sic) with pay and rank,’ said Hegseth, who was confirmed by the Senate days after his testimony.
Donald Trump plans to sign an executive order that will reinstate the thousands of troops who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine mandate under President Joe Biden’s administration
The White House sheet reads: ‘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.’
As of October 2023, eight months after the vaccine mandate was officially repealed, only 43 of the more than 8,000 troops who were discharged sought to rejoin the military under the Biden administration, according to data from the branches of service.
Trump’s order is a directive to the DoD, meaning it will not be enacted right away and will require action and direction from the Pentagon before reinstatements begin.
The implementation of compulsory COVID-19 vaccines for all federal employees was put in place by the early days of Biden’s White House once it was developed and approved under emergency order.
Those who refused and did not have reasonable medical or religious accommodations, were faced with losing their jobs – this included those in the armed services.
Many faced general or other-than-honorable discharges, which impacted their veterans benefits.
Republicans were especially outraged that troops and other federal employees were faced with the decision to take an experimental drug that was not even fully FDA approved or lose their job.
Trump’s expected incoming executive order to reinstate the troops was first reported by Fox News.
The newly inaugurated president pledged last week to allow troops to come back to the military and receive back pay and reinstated rank.
‘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 in his inauguration day remarks on January 20.
Monday afternoon will mark the end of Trump’s first full week back in office, which included a flurry of hundreds of executive orders and actions that got his second term off to a running start.
