President Donald Trump is expected to sign an executive order to reinstate servicemembers discharged from the military for refusing to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.
“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,” the fact sheet explains. “After the vaccine mandate was repealed in 2023, only 43 of the more than the 8,000 troops dismissed elected to return to service under the Biden Administration and Secretary Austin.”
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth told reporters, “Today, there are more executive orders coming that we fully support on removing DEI inside the Pentagon, reinstating troops who were pushed out because of Covid mandates, Iron Dome for America…this is happening quickly.”
During his inaugural address, Trump said he would “reinstate any service members who were unjustly expelled from our military for objecting to the COVID vaccine mandate with full back pay.”
Senator Ted Cruz (R-TX) recently introduced a bill that aims to reverse the harms caused by the military’s mandated COVID-19 vaccine.
The Allowing Military Exemptions, Recognizing Individual Concerns About New Shots (AMERICANS) Act seeks to “provide remedies to members of the Armed Forces discharged or subject to adverse action under the COVID–19 vaccine mandate.”
Cruz said upon the bill’s introduction, “Our military is still dealing with the consequences of the Biden administration’s wrongful COVID-19 vaccine mandate. I led the successful charge for Congress to repeal that mandate, and there is still more to be done. My AMERICANS Act provides remedies for service members punished by the Biden Department of Defense for standing by their convictions.”
