Reinstating Service Members Discharged Under the Military's COVID-19 Vaccination Mandate

This executive order, Executive Order 14184, signed January 27, 2025, directs the executive branch to address service members who were discharged solely for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine under the 2021 vaccine mandate (which was rescinded in 2023). It requires the Secretary of Defense (and the Secretary of Homeland Security when applicable) to take steps to reinstate affected service members, restore their former rank, and provide full back pay and benefits. It also allows service members who voluntarily left or allowed their service to lapse rather than be vaccinated to rejoin without any penalty to status, rank, or pay. The order frames this as redress for what it characterizes as an unfair and overbroad mandate, while preserving existing military law and disciplinary processes for other misconduct. The order also sets reporting requirements (a progress report within 60 days), preserves the ability to take disciplinary action under the Uniform Code of Military Justice for conduct beyond the vaccine issue, and includes standard legal provisions on severability, general government provisions, and implementation subject to law and appropriations. It does not create new legal rights outside of what the law already provides.