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“At the time those orders were refused, it was a lawful order,” Ryder added.He spoke a week after the Pentagon formally rescinded the policy that required all troops to receive the shots with very few exemptions, in line with new legislation signed into law on Dec. 23 that forced the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.”