US drops charges against doctor accused of destroying Covid vaccines

The US attorney general has ordered charges to be dropped against a doctor accused of destroying Covid-19 vaccines worth $28,000 (£20,742), distributing fake vaccination record cards, and giving children saline shots instead of the vaccine at their parents request.

Pam Bondi said Dr Michael Kirk Moore Jr. "gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so". He had been indicted by the Justice Department under the Biden administration in 2023.

The plastic surgeon was already on trial in Utah, where he had pleaded not guilty to all charges including conspiracy to defraud the US.

The acting US Attorney for the district of Utah, Felice John Viti, filed to dismiss the charges on Saturday, saying this was "in the interests of justice".

Dr Moore was accused of providing fraudulently completed vaccination certificates for more than 1,900 vaccine doses, the US Attorneys office in Utah said in 2023.

These were allegedly provided, without administering the vaccine, for a charge of $50 (£37), in exchange for direct cash payments or donations to a specific charity.

The government also accused him of giving children saline shots at their parents request so that the "children would think they were receiving a COVID-19 vaccine," according to the US attorneys office.

He was accused alongside his company - Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, Inc. - and three others of seeking to defraud the US and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

Bondi wrote on X on Saturday that she had ordered the Justice Department to drop the charges because Dr Moore "did not deserve the years in prison he was facing".

She said US Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and Senator Mike Lee, both Republicans, had brought the case to her attention, calling them champions for "ending the weaponization of government".

Lee thanked the attorney general for "standing with the countless Americans who endured too many official lies, mandates, and lockdowns during COVID".

Dr Moore and other defendants faced up to 35 years in prison on multiple charges, according to the Associated Press news agency.

The current US Health Secretary, Robert F. Kennedy Jr., ran a group for eight years, Childrens Health Defense, that repeatedly questioned the safety and efficacy of vaccination.

Kennedy has in the last year repeatedly said he is not "anti-vax" and will not be "taking away anybodys vaccines".