U.S. President Donald Trump will sign an executive action reinstating service members discharged for refusing to receive a COVID-19 vaccine, according to people familiar with the matter.
The order will direct the defence secretary to reinstate discharged members — both active and reserve duty — who request to return to service, granting them their former rank and full back pay with benefits, according to the people who provided details on the action on condition of anonymity.
The move follows through on a promise Trump reiterated during his inaugural address, in which he assailed the decisions to remove the service members as “unjust.” The order was first reported by Fox News.
About 8,000 troops, or less than 1% of the military, were discharged for refusing the vaccine during the mandate, which lasted from August 2021 to January 2023 under the Biden administration. The military made some exceptions for medical issues or religious objections but the dismissals sparked legal challenges and because a flashpoint for conservatives.
Trump in his first administration oversaw the federal response to quickly develop a vaccine to the COVID-19 pandemic, one of the signature accomplishments of that term. However, the president has been reluctant to openly embrace those efforts following a backlash from conservatives over public health efforts such as lockdowns and mandates for masks and shots.
In his second term, Trump has tapped a number of figures known for unorthodox views on medicine and public health, including most notably Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., his pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services. Kennedy is a prominent vaccine skeptic, who has long questioned their safety and efficacy.
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The president in his first week also moved to withdraw the US from the World Health Organization. During his first term Trump also tried to pull the US from the international group, saying it deferred too much to the Chinese government in the early days of the pandemic and failed to do enough to contain the disease.
Pete Hegseth, Trump’s new defence secretary, highlighted the order to reinstate the troops as one of several forthcoming.
“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 and an Iron Dome for America. This is happening quickly,” Hegseth told reporters on Monday.