The US Department of Justice has dropped all charges against Dr. Michael Kirk Moore Jr., a Utah-based plastic surgeon accused of destroying COVID-19 vaccines worth $28,000, issuing fake vaccination cards, and administering saline shots to children at their parents’ request.
Attorney General Pam Bondi announced the decision, stating that Dr. Moore “gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so.” The charges had been brought under the Biden administration in 2023. Dr. Moore, who pleaded not guilty, was on trial in Utah for conspiracy to defraud the United States and other federal offenses.
Prosecutors alleged that Dr. Moore and his clinic, the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, fraudulently issued over 1,900 vaccination certificates without administering the vaccine. Patients reportedly paid $50 per certificate through cash or donations to a designated charity. The scheme included giving children saline shots so they would believe they had received the COVID vaccine.
On Saturday, Acting US Attorney for Utah, Felice John Viti, filed to dismiss the charges, calling it “in the interests of justice.”
Bondi credited Republican lawmakers Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Mike Lee for bringing the case to her attention. Senator Lee praised the move, saying it defended Americans who had “endured official lies, mandates, and lockdowns during COVID.”
Dr. Moore and his co-defendants had faced up to 35 years in prison if convicted.
The decision comes amid broader controversy over vaccine policy in the US. Current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., known for his past vaccine skepticism, has said he supports individual choice and does not plan to revoke access to vaccines.
