Army physician Dr. Theresa Long said she is working with the Trump administration to investigate whether 2,544 unverified deaths reported among U.S. service members in the federal vaccine adverse-event database were connected to COVID-19 vaccination, with the review expected to take up to a year.
By yourNEWS Media Newsroom
An Army physician working with the Trump administration is examining whether thousands of deaths reported among U.S. service members to the federal Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System were connected to COVID-19 vaccines administered under the military’s former mandate.
Dr. Theresa Long said in an Aug. 14 federal court deposition that Secretary of War Pete Hegseth selected her to serve as a senior medical military adviser to Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., according to Politico.
Long said she is investigating 2,544 unverified deaths involving service members that were reported to HHS’ Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System, or VAERS, to determine whether any were caused by or otherwise connected to COVID-19 vaccination.
VAERS reports alone do not establish that a vaccine caused an injury or death. The system accepts reports of health events occurring after vaccination, including events that may ultimately prove unrelated, meaning the cases require further investigation before causation can be determined.
Long told the court that she hopes to complete her research into potential vaccine-related health complications “within a year,” according to Politico.
Neither the Pentagon nor HHS has publicly announced conclusions from the investigation.
The Pentagon referred the Daily Caller News Foundation to HHS when asked for comment, while HHS did not immediately respond. Long also could not immediately be reached.
The Department of War separately told Politico that it does not “have anything to announce at this time” concerning Long’s reported role as Kennedy’s senior medical military adviser.
The department instead referred the outlet to a May 8 statement addressing military personnel affected by the previous COVID-19 vaccination policy.
The Pentagon “continues to take decisive action in support of the many Service members adversely impacted by the COVID-19 vaccine mandate,” the statement said in part.
The investigation fits within a broader Trump administration reassessment of vaccine mandates and policies imposed on military personnel during and after the COVID-19 pandemic.
Kennedy has repeatedly criticized aspects of federal vaccine policy and has pledged to eliminate COVID-19 vaccination mandates.
In an August 2026 post, Kennedy pledged to “end covid vaccine mandates” in the United States.
He has also said that rebuilding public confidence in federal vaccine policy requires greater transparency.
In an August 2025 post, Kennedy said his “job” as health secretary is to “restore trust in the vaccine program so that parents know we’re telling them the truth.”
Hegseth has similarly criticized mandatory vaccination policies within the military.
In June, he called the military’s flu-vaccine requirement an “absurd, overreaching mandate,” according to NPR.
The Trump administration had already begun reversing Biden-era military COVID-19 policies shortly after President Donald Trump returned to office.
In January 2025, Trump issued an executive order directing the reinstatement of service members who had been discharged for refusing the military’s COVID-19 vaccine requirement.
The order recounted the history of the mandate and sharply criticized its implementation.
“On August 24, 2021, the Secretary of Defense mandated that all service members receive the COVID-19 vaccine,” according to the order. “The Secretary of Defense later rescinded the mandate on January 10, 2023. The vaccine mandate was an unfair, overbroad and completely unnecessary burden on our service members. Further, the military unjustly discharged those who refused the vaccine, regardless of the years of service given to our Nation, after failing to grant many of them an exemption that they should have received.”
The military vaccination requirement began under the Biden administration in August 2021 and remained in effect until January 2023.
Service members who refused vaccination could face administrative or disciplinary consequences, including separation from the military, although policies varied by service branch and individual circumstances.
The Trump administration has since moved to restore personnel removed under those policies while reviewing broader questions surrounding the mandate’s consequences.
Long’s inquiry now adds a medical component to that reassessment by examining whether deaths and other reported adverse events among troops can be scientifically linked to COVID-19 vaccination.
Her investigation does not establish that the 2,544 reported deaths were caused by vaccines.
Rather, the cases represent unverified reports submitted to VAERS that Long said she intends to analyze for evidence of a causal relationship.
The distinction will be central to any final conclusions because VAERS is designed as an early-warning surveillance system rather than a database of confirmed vaccine injuries.
Long’s stated one-year timetable suggests the administration’s review could continue into 2027 as federal officials examine medical records, timing, diagnoses and other factors necessary to determine whether particular health outcomes were caused by vaccination or occurred coincidentally afterward.
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