Charges dropped against Utah doctor accused of throwing away $28,000 in
COVID vaccine doses
[July 14, 2025]
By MARK THIESSEN
The federal government on Saturday dismissed charges against a Utah
plastic surgeon accused of throwing away COVID-19 vaccines, giving
children saline shots instead of the vaccine and selling faked
vaccination cards.
U.S. Attorney General Pam Bondi said in a post on the social media
platform X that charges against Dr. Michael Kirk Moore, of Midvale,
Utah, were dismissed at her direction.
Moore and other defendants faced up to 35 years in prison after being
charged with conspiracy to defraud the government; conspiracy to
convert, sell, convey and dispose of government property; and aiding and
abetting in those efforts. The charges were brought when Joe Biden was
president.
“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government
refused to do so,” Bondi wrote. “He did not deserve the years in prison
he was facing. It ends today.”
Felice John Viti, acting U.S. attorney for Utah, filed the motion
Saturday, saying “such dismissal is in the interests of justice.”
The trial began Monday in Salt Lake City with jury selection. It was
expected to last 15 days.
Messages sent to the U.S. Department of Justice, Viti’s office in Salt
Lake City and to Moore were not immediately returned Saturday to The
Associated Press.
A federal grand jury on Jan. 11, 2023, returned an indictment against
Moore, his Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah Inc., others associated
with the clinic and a neighbor of Moore's. The indictment alleged more
than $28,000 of government-provided COVID-19 vaccine doses were
destroyed.
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 They were also accused of providing
fraudulently completed vaccination record cards for over 1,900 doses
of the vaccine in exchange for either a cash or a donation to a
specified charitable organization.
The government also alleged some children were
given saline shots, at their parents’ request, so the minors
believed they were getting the vaccine.
Health Secretary Robert Kennedy Jr., a leading anti-vaccine activist
before becoming the nation’s top health official, posted his support
for Moore in April, saying on X that Moore "deserves a medal for his
courage and his commitment to healing!”
During his confirmation hearings in January, Kennedy repeatedly
refused to acknowledge scientific consensus that childhood vaccines
don’t cause autism and that COVID-19 vaccines saved millions of
lives.
In a follow-up X post on Saturday, Bondi said Georgia Republican
Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene brought the case to her attention.
___
Thiessen reported from Anchorage, Alaska.
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