President Donald Trump has promised to reinstate thousands of military personnel who were fired after refusing to get a covid-19 vaccine during the Biden administration. The measure is so important to Trump that he brought it up just minutes after being sworn into office, during his first speech of inauguration day in the Capitol rotunda.
More than 8,000 military service men and women are expected to benefit from Trump’s vow, which the President said will happen sometime his first week in office. In his inauguration speech, Trump pledged to rebuild the military:
“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 also promised to “again build the strongest military the world has ever seen” and said that he hopes his legacy in office will be that of a “peacemaker and unifier.”
Trump has chosen Army Veteran and former Fox News host Pete Hegseth for his Defense Secretary nominee who has publicly supported reinstatement and back pay for military personnel punished during covid.
During his Senate confirmation 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.
The Military Times reports that the “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.”
Despite the thousands of members affected, Pentagon leaders under the Biden administration claimed the actions did not hurt readiness or morale.