Hegseth Orders Additional Guidance on Reinstatement of Service Members Who Refused COVID Vaccine

‘We’re doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who were affected by that policy,’ Hegseth said.

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth signs a memorandum regarding the discharge of U.S. service members who refused to take the COVID-19 vaccine at the Pentagon in Arlington, Va., on April 23, 2025. U.S. Air Force Senior Airman Madelyn Keech/Department of Defense

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth signed a memorandum on Wednesday, directing additional guidance on efforts to reinstate U.S. service members wrongly discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine mandated by the Biden administration.

The memo directs Tom Dill, the undersecretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness, to provide additional guidance to the boards responsible for reviewing the cases of those service members discharged under the now-defunct vaccine mandate.

“The guidance also will facilitate the removal of adverse actions on service members solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, including discharge upgrades and less than fully honorable discharges for individuals separated from refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine,” Hegseth said. “We’re trying to scrub all that, clean all that up.”

“We’re doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who were affected by that policy,” Hegseth said as he signed the memo on Wednesday.

According to the Pentagon, 8,700 service members were involuntarily separated, while the number of voluntary departures remains unknown.

Hegseth also acknowledged that the reinstatement process hasn’t been perfect so far, but reassured service members of the Pentagon’s ongoing efforts.

“We’re having an ongoing conversation with you to get it right. [We’re] working with the White House as well. We want anyone impacted by that vaccine mandate back into the military—people of conscience, warriors of conscience—back in our formations.”

On Jan. 27, President Donald Trump signed an executive order to make reinstatements available for troops adversely impacted by the rescinded COVID-19 vaccine.

“The vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and completely unnecessary burden on our service members,” the order states. “Further, the military unjustly discharged those who refused the vaccine, regardless of the years of service given to our Nation, after failing to grant many of them an exemption that they should have received.”

In February, Hegseth then directed the Defense Department to take corrective action on the matter.

Wednesday’s memo comes after the Pentagon announced earlier this month that it would reveal details on the reinstatement process.

This includes making an effort to reconnect with discharged service members who were involuntarily separated due to their refusal to receive the vaccine.

“Former service members who were involuntarily separated solely due to their COVID-19 vaccine status are now receiving letters of apology from the department in the mail, along with instructions on how they can pursue returning to service,” Dill said in a statement.

According to Dill, a key feature of the reinstatement program is offering back pay for those involuntarily discharged.

Service members who chose to leave voluntarily rather than comply with the mandate will not be eligible for back pay, Dill noted, but they can return at their previous rank and pay grade.

Service members must go through screening by administrative review boards as part of the reinstatement process.

They have until April 1, 2026, to express interest in being reinstated.

From NTD News