Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth said in a social media video that the COVID vaccine mandates which ended the careers of many service members who sought religious or medical exceptions were unlawful, vowing to continue working through cases in which the mandates harmed them.

Pentagon leadership under former President Joe Biden required all service members to take the vaccine, imposing penalties on those who refused and in many cases denying their right to submit exemptions. Hegseth observed the impact of that order on countless military careers.

“We all know that the previous administration issued unlawful orders on mandatory vaccines, on an experimental vaccine,” Hegseth said in the Wednesday social media video. “We are doing everything we can, as quickly as we can, to reinstate those who were affected by that policy.”

The acknowledgement that the order was unlawful was received by service members as a step in the right direction toward addressing the injustices under the COVID vaccine mandate.

Jordan Karr, an Air Force veteran who filed a lawsuit against the Defense Department over the order, noted to The Sentinel that service members “have been fighting and praying for truth for four years, and it’s no coincidence that we finally see this publicly declared right after Easter.”

“God is faithful always. Our oath is a solemn vow before God, and it’s important that it was acknowledged that this vow was broken,” Karr continued. “That’s not an easy thing to reconcile. I pray that every service member reflects on and understands the oath they take.”