“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, drawing applause from a crowd of supporters crowded into the U.S. Capitol for ceremonies. “And I will sign an order to stop our warriors from being subjected to radical political theories and social experiments while on duty.”
Trump’s statement follows similar comments by his defense secretary pick, former Fox News host Pete Hegseth, during a Senate hearing last week.
Hegseth stated that “tens of thousands of service members were kicked out because of an experimental vaccine” and promised that those individuals would be “apologized to” and brought back into the military.
Defense Department leaders mandated the COVID-19 vaccine for all troops from August 2021 to January 2023, with limited exceptions for medical issues or religious objections. About 8,000 troops were forced out of the service for refusing the order.
That number represents less than half of 1% of the total military end strength. But in the years since the mandate was lifted, conservative lawmakers have accused Defense Department officials of severely impacting force readiness with the dismissals, and called for those individuals to be allowed to return to the ranks.
Pentagon leaders have said the dismissals did not hurt readiness or morale. But they did implement procedures allowing those individuals to reapply for military service after the vaccine mandate was lifted. Only a few dozen pursued the program, according to Defense Department statistics.
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