US Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that she ordered the charges against a doctor accused of destroying Covid-19 vaccines and issuing fraudulent vaccination certificates to be dropped.
This sudden decision comes just days after the trial began and represents another victory for the vaccine-skeptical movement under President Donald Trump’s administration.
Michael Kirk Moore, a plastic surgeon based in Utah, was charged by the Department of Justice in 2023, along with his clinic and three others, for “operating a scheme” to defraud the government.
He faced allegations of destroying or discarding over $28,000 worth of government-supplied Covid vaccines and distributing at least 1,937 fake vaccine record cards in exchange for payment.
The trial commenced this week in a federal court in Salt Lake City.
However, on Tuesday, Republican figure Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of Mr. Trump’s staunchest right-wing supporters, stated she had reached out to Ms. Bondi urging her to dismiss the charges against Dr. Moore.
“Dr. Moore offered his patients a choice when the federal government failed to do so. He did not deserve the years behind bars he was facing. It ends today,” Ms. Bondi posted on X yesterday.
Ms. Bondi confirmed the choice to drop the case in a message on X.
This decision also comes at a time when Ms. Bondi is facing criticism from right-wing activists regarding her management of the investigation into the late financier Jeffrey Epstein.
The Covid-19 pandemic led to significant political division in the US between those who supported lockdowns and vaccination campaigns and those who viewed these actions as infringements on personal freedoms.
Mr. Trump, who has been vaccinated against Covid-19, appointed Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as his Health Secretary, who has begun a reassessment of US vaccine policy.
Mr. Kennedy remarked that Dr. Moore “deserves a medal for his bravery and commitment to healing” in an X post from April.
At the end of May, Mr. Kennedy declared that federal authorities would no longer recommend Covid-19 vaccinations for children and pregnant women, provoking backlash from medical organizations that accused him of undermining parents’ choice to vaccinate.
Mr. Kennedy has been criticized for spreading vaccine misinformation, including claims about the measles vaccine, as the US faces its most severe measles outbreak in 30 years.
