Trump reinstates military members who refused COVID vaccine
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President Trump after signing executive orders in the Oval Office of the White House on Thursday, Jan. 23. Photo: Yuri Gripas/Abaca/Bloomberg via Getty Images
President Trump reinstated members of the military who were dismissed because they refused to receive the COVID vaccine in an executive order late Monday.
Why it matters: The order reverses the dismissals by the Biden administration, restoring thousands of service members to their previous rank and providing them with back pay and benefits.
Catch up quick: More than 8,000 service members were discharged for refusing to get vaccinated under a 2021 memorandum.
- The military's vaccine mandate was rescinded in early 2023 after it was lifted in an annual defense spending bill.
Driving the news: "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 order delivered on a promise Trump made as a candidate and reiterated during his inaugural address. He has said the discharged service members were "unjustly expelled" because of the requirement.
- The Biden administration implemented the mandate to safeguard troops from the virus and maintain military readiness amid a global pandemic. However, some Republicans argued that it was unfair.
Context: The COVID vaccine was one of many administered by the Pentagon to prevent the spread of infectious disease among service members.
- Fewer than 100 members of the military died from COVID-19, according to the Department of Defense. Over 2,700 were hospitalized.
- In the eight months after the mandate was repealed, only 43 of the thousands who were discharged due to their vaccine refusal sought to rejoin the military, CNN reported in October 2023.
Zoom out: Trump's order was one of several that the White House released Monday targeting what the president characterized in his inaugural speech as "radical political theories and social experiments" in the military.
- After revoking a Biden-era policy allowing transgender people to serve in the armed forces on his first day in office, Trump targeted trans Americans — a group the president has persistently attacked — in a new order on Monday that suggests they have "mental and physical health conditions" that are "incompatible with active duty."
- He also issued an order eliminating the military's diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives.
Go deeper: Pentagon drops COVID vaccination mandate
