DOD Launches Task Forces to Clean Up COVID Mandate Mess
The U.S. Department of Defense is launching two new task forces to review how the military’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate was crafted and enforced during the pandemic, Under Secretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata announced last week on X.
“These task forces will examine the development, implementation, and outcomes of the policy,” Tata wrote, adding that each group will include members of the communities most affected by the mandate. “They will be focused on making sure this never, ever happens again to our servicemen and women in uniform, their families, or department civilians.”
According to a December 2022 DOD report, 8,123 troops were discharged by Nov. 30, 2022, for refusing the vaccine.
The story was first reported by The Hill’s “Rising,” where co-host Robby Soave praised the effort to bring discharged troops back into service. “As it turned out, the COVID vaccine is mostly a personal health decision,” he said. “There isn’t enough public health justification, in my view, to require it for government or military service.”
Attorney Dale Saran, who represents hundreds of service members challenging the mandate in court, said he expects the government will soon begin “unwinding the mess that the Biden administration made of the armed forces over its illegal COVID-19 mandates.”
A reinstatement process bogged down
The vaccine mandate was ordered by then–Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in August 2021. Congress later forced its repeal through the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act, and Austin officially lifted the mandate in January 2023.
In January 2025, President Donald Trump ordered the DOD to reinstate all service members discharged over the mandate, restore their rank, and provide full back pay and benefits. The military branches responded by establishing reinstatement procedures, and Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth later clarified those rules in an April memo.
But the DOD declined to offer back pay to discharged troops and kept disciplinary marks related to vaccine refusal on their records. By April, only 43 of more than 8,000 affected service members had been reinstated.
Saran said many of his clients describe the reinstatement process as slow and inconsistent. Tata acknowledged the same concerns on X, saying “many” former troops were “impacted by the unlawful COVID vaccine mandate” and pledged to push the services to streamline the process. Days later, the Pentagon ordered “white glove” treatment for returning service members and directed Military Entrance Processing Stations to eliminate procedural obstacles.
‘Last mile’ problems remain
On Oct. 29, Tata said his office was meeting daily with military leaders to resolve “last mile” issues delaying reinstatements. He later said lingering problems were “unacceptable.”
Saran explained that the final barriers often involve questions about what constitutes full relief — especially back pay. Federal rules allow the government to subtract a service member’s civilian earnings from what they are owed, meaning some could receive no compensation at all.
“These are the kinks in the hose,” Saran said, adding that the government now faces a choice between “business as usual” and providing genuine justice for discharged troops.
Tata and senior adviser Stuart Scheller have been holding listening sessions with former service members to identify remaining obstacles. According to Scheller, outreach efforts have already “almost doubled” the number of reinstatement packages moving toward approval.
Saran described the human toll of the mandate as severe. Some troops were expelled with almost no notice, he said, leaving them effectively homeless or stranded overseas. One pregnant Marine, he noted, was sent home from Okinawa at 32 weeks with nothing but the clothes she was wearing, discharged by week 36, and gave birth a month later.
Legal battles continue
Even after the mandate’s repeal, legal challenges continue. In July 2022, shortly after the compliance deadline, the Army blocked 60,000 unvaccinated Guard and Reserve soldiers from training or receiving benefits. Many service members also faced disciplinary actions, including court-martial.
Federal lawsuits over denied religious exemptions have since been revived, and Saran said several of his clients have already received favorable rulings from their respective service correction boards. Others, including Navy and Air Force personnel, remain tied up in disputes the courts are still sorting out.
Recruiting numbers, which collapsed during the mandate, have reportedly begun improving since its repeal — a development Saran called “unquestionably a good thing for U.S. national security.”
The military continues to enforce some vaccine requirements. The Army ended its COVID shot mandate for childcare workers in August, while the Pentagon updated its flu shot policy in September, exempting reservists but keeping the requirement for active-duty troops.
“DOD never, ever admits it was wrong,” Saran said, pointing to remaining pharmaceutical contracts and ongoing litigation. Still, he said he is “very optimistic about the coming year.”
“We genuinely believe we’re going to find common ground with the Trump administration,” he added.