Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under the Military's COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate
Signed January 27, 2025·Donald Trump·90 FR 8761
Source
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Plain-language summary
Directs the Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland Security to offer reinstatement to active and reserve service members who were discharged solely for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine and who request to return. Reinstated members are to regain their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, and bonus payments. Service members who voluntarily left or let their service lapse to avoid the vaccine mandate may also return with no impact on status, rank, or pay if they submit a sworn written attestation. The order does not prevent disciplinary or administrative action for conduct otherwise prohibited under the Uniform Code of Military Justice. Within 60 days, both secretaries must report to the President, through the Assistant to the President for National Security Affairs, on their progress implementing these directives. It states it creates no enforceable legal rights and is subject to available appropriations and existing law.
Not written or reviewed by a person. Read the full order below for anything you intend to rely on.
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Claimed authority
By the authority vested in me as President by the Constitution and the laws of the United States of America, it is hereby ordered
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The order, in full
Executive Order 14184 of January 27, 2025
Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under the
Military's COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate
By the authority vested in me as President by the
Constitution and the laws of the United States of
America, it is hereby ordered:
Section 1. Purpose and Policy. On August 24, 2021, the
Secretary of Defense mandated that all service members
receive the COVID-19 vaccine. The Secretary of Defense
later rescinded the mandate on January 10, 2023. The
vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad, and
completely unnecessary burden on our service members.
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.
Federal Government redress of any wrongful dismissals
is overdue.
Sec. 2. Redress. Consistent with the policies announced
in section 1 of this order, the Secretary of Defense or
the Secretary of Homeland Security, as appropriate,
shall take all necessary action permitted by law to:
(a) make reinstatement available to all members of
the military (active and reserve) who were discharged
solely for refusal to receive the COVID-19 vaccine and
who request to be reinstated;
(b) enable those service members reinstated under
this section to revert to their former rank and receive
full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or
compensation; and
(c) allow any service members who provide a written
and sworn attestation that they voluntarily left the
service or allowed their service to lapse according to
appropriate procedures, rather than be vaccinated under
the vaccine mandate, to return to service with no
impact on their service status, rank, or pay.
Sec. 3. Additional Agency Responsibilities. (a) Nothing
in this order precludes disciplinary or administrative
action for conduct that is proscribed by chapter 47 of
title 10, United States Code (Uniform Code of Military
Justice, 10 U.S.C. 801-946a).
(b) Within 60 days of the date of this order, the
Secretary of Defense and the Secretary of Homeland
Security shall report to the President through the
Assistant to the President for National Security
Affairs on their progress in implementing this order.
Sec. 4. Severability. If any provision of this order,
or the application of any provision to any person or
circumstance, is held to be invalid, the remainder of
this order and the application of its provisions to any
other persons or circumstances shall not be affected
thereby.
Sec. 5. General Provisions. (a) Nothing in this order
shall be construed to impair or otherwise affect:
(i) the authority granted by law to an executive department, agency, or the
head thereof; or
(ii) the functions of the Director of the Office of Management and Budget
relating to budgetary, administrative, or legislative proposals.
(b) This order shall be implemented consistent with
applicable law and subject to the availability of
appropriations.
(c) This order is not intended to, and does not,
create any right or benefit, substantive or procedural,
enforceable at law or in equity by any party against
the United States, its departments, agencies, or
entities, its officers, employees, or agents, or any
other person.
(Presidential Sig.)
THE WHITE HOUSE,
January 27, 2025.Reproduced from the Federal Register plain-text record, signed January 27, 2025. Typesetting artifacts are removed; no wording is changed.