A 25th Infantry Division soldier receives a COVID-19 vaccination at Schofield Barracks, Hawaii, in 2021. The Defense Department plans to review the records of thousands of service members who were discharged solely for refusing to take the vaccine and could upgrade their discharge status, the agency said in a statement Dec. 15, 2025. (Angelo Mejia/U.S. Army)
The Pentagon plans to review the records of thousands of service members who were forced out of the military solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine, and it could facilitate discharge upgrades as it sees appropriate.
Approximately 8,700 service members were involuntarily separated for not complying with the now-rescinded vaccine mandate, and more than 3,000 of them did not receive honorable discharges, the Defense Department said in a statement Monday.
Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth is directing the military services to proactively review those cases and consider potential upgrades.
The statement refers to guidance issued by the Pentagon on Dec. 10. Within 30 days, service secretaries will create and validate lists of individuals who are eligible for review. The former service members do not need to do anything to have their cases reviewed, DOD said.
The military services will then refer eligible cases to discharge review boards, which will issue decisions to every individual within one calendar year of the memorandum.
In a memo earlier this month to senior leadership outlining the policy, Hegseth called the separations unconscionable and said those former service members were holding true to their personal and religious convictions.
“While many have applied for and received relief from our Military Department review boards, I believe the onus is on us to make this right,” Hegseth said in the Dec. 6 memo.
He was referring to the 3,000-plus former service members who received a general (under honorable conditions) discharge, which is a step down from an honorable discharge.
Former service members who were given a general discharge still have access to veterans benefits.
The military’s COVID-19 vaccination mandate for active-duty service members began in August 2021 and was later extended to members of the National Guard and reservists.
Then-Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin ended the mandate in 2023 but did not change the status of service members who were separated for refusing the vaccine.
Under President Donald Trump, the Pentagon recently announced that discharged service members can pursue reinstatement up to April 2026.
“Together, we will continue to right the wrongs of the past and restore confidence in, and honor to, our fighting force,” Hegseth said in his letter to senior leadership.
