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The US government has announced it will re-evaluate discharges made under the previous COVID-19 vaccine refusal to see if personnel are eligible for an upgrade to an honourable discharge.
More than 8,000 US service members had previously been involuntarily discharged for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine between 24 August 2021 and 10 January 2023.
Most of those personnel received an honourable discharge, but over 4,000 had their service characterised as general (under honourable conditions). Nearly 900 veterans have already had their discharge characterisations upgraded, while more than 3,000 remain to be reviewed.
“It is unconscionable that thousands of former service members who held true to their personal and religious convictions were not just separated, but separated with general (discharges), rather than honourable discharge characterisations,” according to a 6 December memorandum released by US Secretary of War Pete Hegseth.
“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.
“I hereby direct a proactive review of personnel records to identify individuals who were involuntarily discharged solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine and facilitate appropriate discharge upgrades.
“Together, we will continue to right the wrongs of the past and restore confidence in, and honour to, our fighting force.”
US Secretary Hegseth has directed each of the military services to identify individuals who were discharged and are eligible to have their records reviewed. Those eligible are former service members who were involuntarily separated solely for refusing to be vaccinated under the department’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate and who received a general discharge characterisation.
After those service members are identified, their records will be reviewed by each service member’s respective discharge review board.
Part of the review process will be to determine if service members were given a general discharge, rather than an honourable discharge, solely for refusing to take the COVID-19 vaccine.
In some cases, boards may find that a service member’s discharge was characterised as general due to other issues, such as having misconduct in their records.
While these service members may not receive relief through the proactive review, the department encourages them to apply to the review boards directly and provide any new evidence that may support a discharge upgrade.
Finally, every former service member whose record is upgraded will be notified by US postal mail.
