Hegseth calls Biden's military COVID vax mandate 'unlawful,' provides guidance to restore careers

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth called the Biden administration's military COVID-19 vaccine mandate "unlawful," and issued a memo directing Pentagon officials to reinstate service members affected by it and remove any related disciplinary actions from their record.

Hegseth's announcement on Wednesday follows Trump's executive order from January reinstating military members who were discharged for refusing to follow the Defense Department’s COVID vaccine mandate implemented by the Biden administration.

"We all know that the previous administration issued unlawful orders on mandatory vaccines on an experimental vaccine, COVID-19. You know it, we know it," Hegseth said in a video posted on X on Wednesday. "We're doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who are affected by that policy. It hasn't been perfect, and we know that. 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." 

Hegseth's memo reads, "I hereby direct the Under Secretary of Defense for Personnel and Readiness to provide additional guidance to the Military Department Review Boards concerning the review of requests from Service members and former Service members adversely impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate.

"This guidance will facilitate, as appropriate, the removal of adverse actions based solely on refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine (or requesting a medical or religious/administrative accommodation), discharge upgrades for individuals involuntarily separated solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine whose service was characterized as less than fully honorable, and appropriate remedies for Service members who suffered a wide variety of other career setbacks resulting from their principled refusal to take the COVID-19 vaccine."

R. Davis Younts, a lawyer who represents multiple former and current service members negatively impacted by the COVID vaccine mandate, said in a video posted on X following Hegseth's announcement, "After four years of fighting the unlawful orders that came as a result of the COVID-19 mandate for the military, the secretary of defense has just announced his acknowledgment that this was an unlawful order and that the mandate was based on an experimental vaccine. I cannot tell you how grateful I am for this announcement from Secretary Hegseth, and I cannot tell you just all of the emotion and everything else that this brings up after four years of fighting this.

"Listen, I fought the COVID vaccine mandate for myself, personally, and hundreds of clients as we tried to get career bureaucrats in the military to understand and acknowledge that the Biden administration was violating federal law and violating constitutional principles. And to have a secretary of defense who has the courage to acknowledge this was an unlawful order is absolutely incredible," Younts continued.

"And beyond that, we are now seeing a Department of Defense that is dedicated to continuing to work on the process to restore all of us that were impacted by this unlawful order. So this is not just about reinstatement, this is also an acknowledgment that more needs to be done and careers need to be fixed. This is about restoring military members who were impacted by this, including the adverse action that was in their records and other guidance."