DHS reinstates 56 Coast Guard members discharged over Biden admin's Covid vaccine mandate

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) announced Monday that 56 members of the United States Coast Guard who were discharged for refusing to comply with the Covid vaccine mandate have been reinstated with back pay, marking what officials are calling a significant victory for personal freedom and military justice.

“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,” said DHS Secretary Kristi Noem in a statement. “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.”

Noem added, “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.”

On August 21, 2021, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin issued a department-wide mandate requiring all US service members to receive the Covid vaccine. Although the Coast Guard operates under DHS rather than the Department of Defense, it implemented a similar mandate shortly thereafter.

The Defense Department rescinded its vaccine mandate on January 10, 2023, and the Coast Guard followed suit one day later, on January 11, 2023. During the nearly 15 months the mandate was in effect, the Coast Guard discharged 274 enlisted members solely for refusing the vaccine. While some service members were reinstated following the rescission of the mandate, dozens remained separated from service.

On January 27, 2025, President Donald Trump signed Executive Order 14184, directing the Secretaries of the military departments to take all necessary action to make reinstatement available to service members discharged solely for refusing the Covid vaccine. The order also provided that reinstated members could “revert to their former rank and receive full back pay, benefits, bonus payments, or compensation.”

Following the executive order, Secretary Noem submitted a group application to the Coast Guard’s Board for Correction of Military Records (BCMR), requesting relief on behalf of affected members. A three-member panel of the BCMR reviewed the cases and voted to grant relief to 56 former Coast Guard members who had been discharged solely for vaccine refusal. According to the Board’s final decision, dated February 12, 2026, the Coast Guard will retroactively reinstate these individuals effective the date of their original discharge.

As part of the decision, each reinstated member’s service record will be corrected to reflect a period of unbroken and continuous active-duty service between the date of their vaccine-related discharge and their return to duty. This ensures that the discharge will effectively be removed from their record for purposes related to the Covid mandate.

In accordance with Executive Order 14184, eligible members may receive back pay and allowances, bonus payments, restoration of rank, seniority in grade, and other benefits as determined by the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard will calculate and distribute any compensation owed and apply constructive service credit for the period of separation. The Board emphasized that this group decision does not limit the rights of other individuals to seek relief through separate applications if they believe they were similarly harmed.