Though the military-wide orders to receive the coronavirus vaccine have been repealed, the Defense Department stands firm on the results of its policy.
The Pentagon on Tuesday shut down speculation it’s considering back pay for service members it discharged for refusing to get a COVID-19 vaccine, distancing itself from an already politically hazardous issue that has become even more prejudicial for the military with Republican control of Congress.
“Right now, we are not pursuing, as a matter of policy, back pay for those who refused the vaccine,” Air Force Brig. Gen. Pat Ryder, a spokesman for the Defense Department, told reporters in response to one of several questions about the issue.
“At the time those orders were refused, it was a lawful order,” Ryder added.
He spoke a week after the Pentagon formally rescinded the policy that required all troops to receive the shots with very few exemptions, in line with new legislation signed into law on Dec. 23 that forced the change. Politico had reported on Friday, citing an unnamed spokesperson, that the department was considering issuing back pay at that time. Ryder on Tuesday distanced the Pentagon from any such speculation.
Defense Secretary Lloyd Austin in announcing the congressionally mandated repeal was unapologetic for the policy, saying in a memo on Jan. 10 that he is “deeply proud for the Department’s work to combat the coronavirus disease,” which he said “will leave a lasting legacy in the many lives we saved.” He cited the orders from Congress that he change the policy, said no further service members would be discharged for refusing the vaccine and announced that any troops under existing investigation or judicial process would be cleared.
It remains unclear the extent to which the department would allow service members who have been discharged to rejoin. However, Tuesday’s statements following Austin’s memo align with a general air in the department of disinterest in further accommodating those affected by the policy.
Roughly 99% of all active-duty troops received the vaccine. More than 8,400 service members were discharged from the military for refusing to take it. All of those kicked out of military service received at least a “general discharge under honorable conditions,” with others receiving the higher “honorable discharge.” The difference affects medical and other benefits service members receive after leaving the military.
Republicans in Congress raised almost immediate alarm after Austin first announced the policy in August 2021, followed by a series of deadlines that each department determined for itself, beginning with the Air Force and Space Force at the beginning of November that year.

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