Tag: mandatory vaccination

War Dept. Battles Internal Resistance To Reinstate 86 Soldiers Ejected By Covid Shot Mandate

It’s been ten months since President Donald Trump ordered the full reinstatement of any willing military employees ejected for declining Covid-19 shots, but as of Nov. 15 just 86 such personnel have been reinstated. The reinstatements so far account for less than one-tenth of 1 percent of the military personnel who likely left over the Biden administration mandate, depleting the military of some of its highest-character members and causing a historic personnel crisis.

President Trump’s defense team is “picking up steam” to address the reinstatements more quickly and fruitfully and approval times are down to two to three weeks after the application package is completed, Undersecretary of War for Personnel and Readiness Anthony Tata told The Federalist in a Tuesday afternoon phone call from his office. Confirmed in July, Tata said he immediately sought out veterans experiencing impediments to reinstatement. In September and October meetings and memorandums, “I tasked in no uncertain terms to the services that they will treat each of the members with the dignity that they deserve,” Tata said.

“There’s a lot of moving pieces, there’s a lot of good people working very hard on this,” Tata said. “We all understand the president’s executive order and the secretary’s directive, and we are moving out at full speed to welcome every single person that wants to come back from this disaffected community.”

When one service member posted online that a military processing station had turned her away from seeking the reinstatement the Trump administration has promised, Tata said after talking with her he called up the station commander and said, “What part of this don’t you understand?”

More formally, he noted the department is investigating Biden-era Covid policies and their implementation across the branches, and that investigation will make recommendations about whether and which personnel violated law and military policy in carrying out Covid orders. The investigation team includes service members reinstated after the Biden administration drummed them out of the military for their conscientious objections to Covid mandates.

Former Air Force judge advocate general Kacy Dixon, herself reinstated after declining a Covid shot while pregnant, is Tata’s liaison to that investigation and to Covid-separated soldiers seeking reparations the administration has promised for their injuries, including honorable discharges, lost benefits, and back pay, even if they don’t re-enlist. Tata noted that back pay for reinstated soldiers is often between $100,000-$150,000 per person and it includes the proper pay for promotions soldiers would have earned if they hadn’t been punished for exercising their constitutional conscience rights.

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Can the Government Mandate a Vaccine for Your Own Good? This Federal Court Says Yes.

Defending COVID-19 policies against legal challenges, government officials relied heavily on Jacobson v. Massachusetts, a 1905 case in which the U.S. Supreme Court upheld a smallpox vaccine mandate imposed by the Cambridge Board of Health. But the breadth of the license granted by that decision is a matter of dispute, even as applied to superficially similar COVID-19 vaccination requirements.

Critics of those mandates argued that COVID-19 shots, unlike smallpox vaccination, do not prevent disease transmission, so requiring them amounts to paternalistic intervention rather than protection of the general public. Last summer in Health Freedom Fund v. Carvalho, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit dismissed that distinction as constitutionally irrelevant.

Rejecting a challenge to a 2021 COVID-19 vaccine mandate that the Los Angeles Unified School District (LAUSD) imposed on its employees, the majority held that the district “could have reasonably concluded that COVID-19 vaccines would protect the health and safety of its employees and students.” The implications of the 9th Circuit’s decision for the right to bodily integrity are alarmingly broad, since the court’s logic would seem to bless all manner of medical mandates that the government views as beneficial to the patient, even if they have no effect on other people.

The plaintiffs in the 9th Circuit case, including LAUSD employees who were fired because they refused to comply with the vaccine requirement, argued that Jacobson did not authorize that policy. Their case featured dueling interpretations of Jacobson that reflected different understandings of “public health.”

Is that rationale for government action limited to external threats such as disease carriers and air pollution, where someone’s actions risk harming others, or does it extend to self-regarding decisions that do not impinge on other people’s rights, such as lifestyle choices and consent to medical treatment? The 9th Circuit’s ruling implicitly embraces the latter view, which invites far-ranging, open-ended interference with individual freedom.

In Jacobson, the Supreme Court weighed “the inherent right of every freeman to care for his own body and health in such way as to him seems best” against the government’s interest in “preventing the spread of smallpox.” The majority repeatedly referred to that danger and noted “the common belief,” supported by “high medical authority,” that vaccination was effective at addressing it. The Court rejected the premise that people may do as they like “regardless of the injury that may be done to others.”

That concern about injury to others, the plaintiffs in the 9th Circuit case argued, did not apply in the context of COVID-19 vaccine mandates. While smallpox vaccination effectively curtailed the spread of disease, they said, COVID-19 vaccines do not prevent infection or transmission, although they may reduce symptom severity in people who receive them.

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The Department of Defense Cannot Claim Ignorance Regarding Their Legal Violations During the COVID Era

Laws were clearly broken through the oppressive enforcement and administration of the military’s COVID-19 shot, yet to this day, no one is willing to acknowledge which specific laws were transgressed.

Last month, The Gateway Pundit brought attention to the fact that the Department of War continues to ignore multiple inquiries and FOIA requests.

They refuse to acknowledge that 10 U.S. Code § 1107a acts as a legal basis showing that the implementation of the COVID-19 shot mandate was illegal, even in light of the War Secretary’s public declaration deeming it “unlawful.” If something is considered unlawful, then a law or laws must have been violated? So, why do they refuse to name the law(s) that were broken?

10 U.S. Code § 1107a “[codifies] that individuals are informed of an option to accept or refuse administration of a product.” Regarding the administration of a product authorized for emergency use, such as the previously required COVID-19 shot, only the President has the authority to waive this federal code. Former President Joe Biden did not to waive it.

So, who violated the law? And, perhaps more crucially, who in this world is allowed to break the law and escape without consequences? Where is the accountability? That’s the question on the minds of service members and veterans.

The author conducted a survey involving more than five dozen members of the military who are currently serving, representing all branches of the military. They were asked about their references to 10 U.S. Code § 1107a in their objections to receiving the 2021 COVID-19 shot.

Both their original requests for accommodation or exemption, as well as their subsequent appeals, were blanketly denied. For many, their careers were ultimately preserved only due to a federal injunction or the later rescission of the mandate on January 10, 2023.

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Army Lieutenant Who Was Court-Martialed for Refusing COVID-19 Shot Granted Full Reinstatement and Retroactive Promotion After Under Secretary of War Steps In to Fix Slow Processing

The U.S. Army has officially granted full reinstatement to former First Lieutenant Mark Bashaw, retroactively promoted to Captain, after Under Secretary of War Anthony J. Tata personally intervened to address the “last mile” delays in the reinstatement process.

Under Secretary Tata announced the action on X, formerly Twitter:

“On Monday, @MCBashaw emailed me about several ‘last mile’ issues in the COVID reinstatement process. We immediately convened @USArmy leaders to address them. At this stage, any delays are unacceptable. We’re committed to reinstating our impacted warriors ASAP.”

He later added that the Army and Department of War were engaging directly with Kevin Bouren and Mark Bashaw to resolve any outstanding concerns, noting that not all corrective efforts are visible to the public, but they are “happening steadily behind the scenes.”

Retired U.S. Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 and intelligence officer Sam Shoemate responded on Under Secretary Tata’s announcement, stating: “I spoke to [Bashaw]. You sure lit a fire under their ass to get him taken care of. The problem is that it shouldn’t take the Undersecretary of the DOW to get that done.

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UT-Battelle to pay $2.8 million in COVID-19 vaccine requirement settlement

UT-Battelle agreed to pay more than $2.8 million to employees after a lawsuit over COVID-19 vaccine requirements, said the U.S. Equal Employment Opportunity Commission (EEOC).

UT-Battelle is the managing contractor of Oak Ridge National Laboratory. During its investigation, EEOC said it found reasonable cause to believe that UT-Battelle had discriminated against ORNL employees by denying them religious accommodations from the COVID-19 vaccine mandates. This would violate Title VII of the Civil Rights Act, EEOC said.

“I am grateful for the field’s hard work in this investigation, and UT-Battelle’s commitment to voluntarily rectifying its alleged Title VII violations by compensating its employees and agreeing to injunctive relief is commendable,” said EEOC Acting Chair Lucas. “While COVID-19 vaccine mandates were a novelty, our long-standing civil rights laws remain unchanged — absent an undue hardship, employers must provide a reasonable accommodation to its employees for their sincerely held religious beliefs.”

Per the agreement, UT-Battelle will provide back pay and compensatory damages to those affected and train its human resources personnel on religious accommodation requests.

“UT-Battelle has always respected the religious beliefs and practices of its employees,” said Stephen Streiffer, president and CEO of UT-Battelle. “The COVID-19 pandemic required extraordinary measures to protect staff members’ health and safety while they worked together to keep the lab open. During unprecedented times, their dedication allowed us to continue fulfilling our national missions, including the production of medical isotopes to fight cancer and support national security. We appreciate the assistance of the EEOC in resolving these disputes, which allows us to move forward fully focused on our work for the nation.”

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NMSU Alumnus and Former Professor Files Legal Action Over Unlawful Vaccine Mandate

Today, David K. Clements, a former Assistant Professor of consumer protection and business law, announced the filing of a lawsuit against New Mexico State University (NMSU) and its Board of Regents, alleging breach of contract and violation of the New Mexico Unfair Practices Act.

The action stems from his wrongful termination on October 15, 2021, for refusing to comply with NMSU’s COVID-19 experimental vaccine and mask mandate, which he contends violated federal law by lacking informed consent and refusal rights.

“It is difficult to announce this lawsuit in the wake of the Charlie Kirk assassination. He fought for free speech on campuses just like NMSU. Before his life was tragically taken, lives and reputations were destroyed on campuses across America for exercising our First Amendment right to combat forced injections, masking, and invasive testing. For those who held the line against forced injection, many had to endure a six-inch nasal swab shoved up their nose, scraping the back of their throats every week, or else face the loss of their job. It was dehumanizing. I will fight these monsters with everything I have,” Clements stated.

Clements, who taught at NMSU until his dismissal, argues that the mandate disrupted educational services to both students and faculty—services generating $2.6 billion in economic output—and exploited his position as a tenure-track professor to pressure students to get an injection with virtually no scientific data advising them of their risks. The Complaint can be read here.

“The university effectively took bribe money tied to the Higher Education Emergency Relief Fund (HEERF), the Coronavirus Aid, Relief, and Economic Security (CARES) Act, among others. They chose to rake in millions of dollars rather than look out for the health and safety of faculty and students. The statute of limitations for breach of contract is six years. I hope this lawsuit will alert former colleagues and students that were harmed by the jab or denied accommodations, that a university’s greed should not outweigh their rights to receive an education free of coercion. There is still time on the clock for thousands of lawsuits to be filed,” Clements stated.

NMSU is no stranger to controversy. Over the past five years, it has been sued for allegations of hazing, sexual assault, discrimination, retaliation, and wrongful termination. These include an $8 million settlement in June 2023 with former basketball players Deuce Benjamin, Shak Odunewu, and William Benjamin for hazing and sexual assault claims; a $495,000 settlement in March 2024 with former provost Carol Parker for discrimination and retaliation; a $60,000 settlement in February 2024 with former Title IX coordinator Laura Castille for retaliation; a $1 million settlement in July 2025 with a female student alleging mishandling of a sexual assault case; and an undisclosed settlement in August 2025 with former basketball coach Greg Heiar for wrongful termination. These resolutions, totaling over $9.5 million in disclosed amounts, reflect a troubling track record.

Clements’ objection to the mandate’s illegality has been vindicated by recent developments, including the CDC’s 2025 withdrawal of vaccine recommendations for children and pregnant women and Moderna’s requirement for placebo-controlled trials. “As an alumnus and educator, I sought to protect my students and colleagues from potential harm, only to face retaliation,” Clements stated.

The lawsuit seeks reinstatement to a tenured position, compensatory and treble (triple) damages under the UPA for what Clements describes as a willful and unconscionable trade practice. He has requested preservation of all related records to ensure transparency.

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Pentagon Human Resources Leader Championed DEI, Vaccine Mandates Under Biden

The current head of human resources at the Department of War (DOW), formerly the Department of Defense (DOD), was the “architect” of the military’s previous Diversity and Inclusion program, enforced the unlawful COVID vaccine mandate, and developed a program that expedited citizenship for noncitizen service members who were deported after being convicted of crimes.

Retired Army Chief Warrant Officer 2 Samuel Shoemate sounded the alarm on X this week, drawing attention to DOW Deputy Assistant Secretary of War for Military Personnel Policy Stephanie Miller.

Miller oversees the “full spectrum of human resource policies for over two million military personnel serving in the Department of War,” Shoemate wrote.

Her old bio, which has been revised to remove any mention of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI), states that her career includes “leadership positions as the DoD Director of Diversity and Inclusion Management, Deputy Director for Navy Diversity, and Director, Navy Women’s Policy.”

She also served as a Defense Legislative Fellow for Sen. Susan Collins (R-ME) — a close associate of Hollywood Democrat donors and one of just three Republican senators who voted against the confirmation of War Secretary Pete Hegseth in January.

“Stephanie has been an advisor to, and architect of, every decision in the military over the last decade and a half that has harmed military readiness and overall military strength,” Shoemate wrote. 

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Trump Says Youth Vaccine Mandate Rollback is a “Very Tough Position” – “They Just Pure and Simple Work… I Think Those Vaccines Should be Used”

President Trump on Friday expressed support for mandatory vaccines for school-aged children, amid Health and Human Services Secretary RFK Jr.’s push to end unnecessary vaccination. 

Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified Thursday before the Senate Finance Committee, where Democrats sought to grill him about his personnel and vaccine guidance shake-up at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). Per the Hill, “the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention stopped recommending the COVID-19 vaccine for those under 18. Kennedy, meanwhile, has fired all 17 sitting members of CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and also moved to oust the CDC head and other top HHS experts.”

During the Senate hearing, RFK revealed that in the early 2000s, a senior CDC scientist was ordered to destroy data from an internal study that showed a staggering link between the MMR (measles, mumps, rubella) vaccine and autism risk in young Black boys. The data showed that black boys, who got vaccinated before 24 months of age or 36 months of age, “had a 260% greater chance of getting an autism diagnosis than children who waited,” RFK said.

This also comes after Florida Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced earlier this week that the Florida Department of Health is planning to remove “every last” vaccine mandate from Florida law.

“All of them. Every last one of them,” Ladapo said to loud cheers and a standing ovation.

“Who am I, as the government, or anyone else, who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body? Who am I to tell you what your child should put in their body? I don’t have that right.”

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NIH Director on FL: In My Opinion, Not Having Vax Mandates Seems Best

On Thursday’s broadcast of Newsmax TV’s “Rob Schmitt Tonight,” NIH Director Dr. Jay Bhattacharya commented on Florida moving to scrap vaccine mandates by stating that he’s not speaking for the administration, but not having mandates “seems to be the better approach” and “The strategy of using mandates, it’s not obvious it’s the right one.”

Bhattacharya said, “I’m not sure exactly what — the administration yet has a take on this, but I’ll tell you, Rob, if you look in the U.K., if you look in Sweden, you look in Denmark, none of them have vaccine mandates for any of their vaccines. All of the vaccines are voluntary in those places. What they do have is public health that doesn’t lie to their people. And so, you have amazing vaccine uptake for vaccines like MMR in all of those places, without vaccine mandates, without violating bodily autonomy of people, because public health has the trust of the people because they’re trustworthy. The problem in the United States has been, public health hasn’t been trustworthy, especially during COVID, you saw a lot of, like, exaggerations about the vaccine’s — the COVID vaccine’s ability to stop you from getting and spreading COVID, for instance, and the mandates, they just deepen the distrust. The strategy of using mandates, it’s not obvious it’s the right one. And, as I said, like in Europe, you have a very, very different strategy and they have better results than we do on uptake of essential vaccines like the MMR.”

He added, “They’re not coercing people. What they’re doing, they’re reasoning with people. I find that approach quite attractive. I’m not making an announcement as far as the administration is concerned. I’m just telling you my point of view as an epidemiologist and scientist, that that seems to be the better approach to public health, talk to people, talk to them about the data, what the data actually show and don’t show, be honest about what — when there are problems, and then, treat people like adults, especially parents, to help them make good decisions for their families.”

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DeSantis and Ladapo aim to make Florida first in US to end all vaccine mandates

Florida is set to push for an end to all state vaccine mandates, state Surgeon General Joseph Ladapo announced at a news conference Wednesday.

For decades, the state has required numerous vaccines for kids attending school, a list that today includes shots that protect against measles-mumps-rubella, polio, chickenpox and hepatitis B.

But Ladapo on Wednesday compared these mandates to “slavery,” and promised that they all will soon end.

“All of them. Every last one of them,” Ladapo said to raucous cheers from the crowd assembled at the Grace Christian School in Valrico. “Who am I as a man standing here now to tell you what you should put in your body?”

Dr. Nancy Silva, a Wesley Chapel pediatrician, said ending the vaccine mandates for schoolchildren will endanger their health and bring back diseases with life-threatening health complications that most parents of school-age children have never faced.

She questioned why the DeSantis administration would make vaccines an issue when school mandates have proven effective at eradicating and minimizing the spread of childhood diseases.

“I hope parents understand the great wonder of vaccines and how they have saved millions of lives over the decades.”

Immunizations have saved at least 154 million lives in the last 50 years, according to the World Health Organization. The vast majority of the lives saved were infants.

All 50 states and Washington, D.C., have laws requiring certain vaccines for students to attend school. Florida is the first state to publicly call for doing away with such requirements.

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