WASHINGTON: US Attorney General Pam Bondi has dismissed a fraud case against a Utah doctor accused of falsifying COVID-19 vaccination certificates and destroying government-provided vaccines worth over $28,000.
The decision, announced on social media platform X, stated that Dr Michael Kirk Moore Jr did not deserve the prison sentence he faced.
Moore, indicted by a federal grand jury in 2023, had begun trial earlier this month. Bondi defended the dismissal, saying, “Dr Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so. He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.”
The case has drawn attention amid broader debates over vaccine mandates. The Trump administration has supported vaccine skeptics, including efforts to reinstate military personnel discharged for refusing COVID-19 vaccinations.
Health Secretary Robert F Kennedy Jr, a vocal critic of vaccine policies, praised Moore in April, calling him a “hero” for his defiance.
According to a 2023 statement from the US Attorney’s Office in Utah, Moore allegedly issued fake vaccine certificates from a plastic surgery center.
Prosecutors claimed he administered saline shots to minors, misleading them into believing they had received COVID-19 vaccines at their parents’ request.
Georgia lawmaker Marjorie Taylor Greene, a prominent Trump ally, celebrated the case’s dismissal, calling Moore a hero and warning against government overreach.
“We can never again allow our government to turn tyrannical under our watch,“ she posted on X.
Bondi’s decision follows controversy over her removal of senior Justice Department officials involved in Trump-related investigations, raising concerns about political interference in federal law enforcement. - Reuters
