Coast Guard reinstates 56 members discharged for not being vaccinated against Covid-19
From the Department of Homeland Security they stressed that the reinstated members would also receive back pay and that their military record would no longer show a break in service.
Kristi Noem alongside Coast Guard members in South Carolina/ Alex Brandon.
The Coast Guard reinstated 56 members who had been furloughed after failing to get the Covid-19 vaccination. This was announced by the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), from where they criticized the Biden Administration over the vaccination mandates and stressed that reinstated members would also receive retroactive pay.
The vaccination mandates were implemented at different agencies in 2021 by then-President Joe Biden and then-Secretary of Defense, Lloyd Austin. While they were rescinded in mid-2023, many workers and agents who opted not to vaccinate had already been disengaged.
Shortly after returning to the White House, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14184, which made possible the reinstatement of service members who were discharged for refusing the vaccine.
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Months later, a three-member panel of the Coast Guard's Military Records Correction Board voted in favor of the recommendation by the secretary of Homeland Security, Kristi Noem, to reinstate the aforementioned 56 members, with their respective back pay from their discharge date.
"56 members of the United States Coast Guard who were kicked out of the service over the COVID-19 vaccine have finally been reinstated with back pay—this is a victory for religious, personal, and medical freedom for all Americans — both in and out of uniform. The last administration’s vaccine mandates were unconstitutional, un-American, and a gross violation of personal freedom. It was no way to treat the men and women who put everything on the line to keep our country safe," Secretary Noem said in a statement.
The Coast Guard is the smallest branch of the Armed Forces and falls under the orbit of DHS.
"President Trump is righting these wrongs and returning those unjustly removed members to service. This decision to reinstate these members of the Coast Guard is a major step in the right direction," the official added.
In addition, the decision means that the military record of those involved will no longer show a break in service and they will be entitled to rank and seniority.
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