Trump reinstating thousands of US service members discharged for refusing COVID shot

President Donald Trump is set to sign an executive order Monday reinstating thousands of American service members who were discharged for refusing experimental COVID-19 vaccines during the pandemic. Doing so will amount to another promise kept by the Republican, who stated in August, “I will rehire every patriot that was fired with an apology and backpay. They will get their backpay and an apology from our government.”

Former Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a memo on Aug. 24, 2021, both declaring that “mandatory vaccination against coronavirus disease 2019 is necessary to protect the Force” and characterizing the novel vaccines as safe and effective.

The Biden administration’s vaccine mandate for U.S. service members was ultimately rescinded in January 2023 as the result of a Republican-backed requirement added to the 2023 National Defense Authorization Act. However, during the 16 months the mandate was in effect, roughly 17,000 service members refused to take the vaccine.

While around 1,200 troops were reportedly able to secure exemptions, Pentagon records indicated that 3,717 Marines, 1,816 soldiers, and 2,064 sailors were discharged for refusing the vaccine that had left some of their compatriots with health complications such as myocarditis or, in the case of former National Guard specialist Karoline Stancik, three heart attacks and a stroke.

‘They will be apologized to.’

A White House official confirmed to the New York Post that Trump’s executive order will cover active-duty or reserve service members who were discharged for refusing the vaccine between 2021 and 2023. Over 8,000 service members are expected to be restored to their previous rank and provided both backpay and full benefits.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth pledged during his confirmation hearing earlier this month to reinstate and reimburse troops ousted for refusing an “experimental vaccine” as Trump had promised.

“Tens of thousands of service members were kicked out because of an experimental vaccine,” said Hegseth. “They will be apologized to. They will be reinstated, reinstituted with pay and rank.”

The Military Times indicated that rectifying the Biden administration’s error might prove costly as backpay alone might run upwards of hundreds of millions of dollars. Nevertheless, it will make whole those who were kicked to the curb for questioning a vaccine shown in some cases to cause significant harm.

A study published January 2024 in the pharmacotherapy journal Therapeutic Advances in Drug Safety indicated that “COVID-19 vaccination is strongly associated with a serious adverse safety signal of myocarditis, particularly in children and young adults resulting in hospitalization and death.”

A study conducted by the Global COVID Vaccine Safety Project — a Global Vaccine Data Network initiative supported by both the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the HHS — and published last year in the journal Vaccine detailed unsettling links between the AstraZeneca, Moderna, and Pfizer vaccines and medical conditions such as Guillain-Barré syndrome, brain and spinal cord inflammation, Bell’s palsy, and convulsions.

Rep. Brian Mast (R-Fla.), a retired U.S. Army Ranger, celebrated Trump’s decision to reinstate the troops, telling “Fox & Friends” that it is a “great day for patriots, a great day for our service members, my brothers and sisters in arms.”

“Let’s not forget,” said Mast, “it wasn’t just the military. It was other government agencies as well, where they were essentially washing [out] conservatives that were raising their hand, saying, ‘I don’t want to take this vaccine.'”

“They were washing them out of government, washing them out of West Point and Naval Academy, Air Force, Coast Guard, Merchant Marine academies, washing them out from being on the next promotion boards for first sergeants, sergeants, majors, or officers, and they were creating a system where the ones that were going to be giving promotion to the next classes of individuals were all going to be those that didn’t say, ‘No, I’m not a conservative, and you know, I’m OK with everything that you’re doing right now,'” said Mast. “That’s what was taking place.”

While the reinstatement might be greatly welcomed by some troops, there may be others who have no interest in returning. After all, within eight months of the repeal of the vaccine mandate, only 43 of the over 8,000 service members given the boot decided to rejoin.

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