Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth Moves to Reinstate Troops Discharged Over COVID-19 Vaccine Refusal

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth announces a sweeping initiative to reinstate more than 8,700 U.S. service members who were discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine, calling them “warriors of conscience” and asserting that they were unfairly removed during what he describes as a period of “unprecedented coercion” in military health policy. Speaking at the U.S. Army War College in Pennsylvania, Hegseth declares, “We want them back.”

The plan marks a major reversal in U.S. military policy concerning the pandemic-era vaccine mandate, which sparked fierce debate. . .