DOJ Drops Charges Against Utah Surgeon Accused of Dumping COVID-19 Vaccines, Issuing Fake Vaccine Cards

Attorney General Pam Bondi ended the DOJ case against the Utah surgeon accused of faking COVID-19 shots and undermining trust in public health programs.

Attorney General Pam Bondi speaks to reporters in the James S. Brady Press Briefing Room at the White House on June 27, 2025. Madalina Kilroy/The Epoch Times

Attorney General Pam Bondi has announced that the Justice Department is dropping charges against Utah plastic surgeon Dr. Kirk Moore.

Moore was accused of throwing away thousands of government-funded COVID-19 vaccinations and handing out false proof-of-vaccination cards to patients without injecting them.

Bondi said in a July 12 statement on social media that she had directed the Department of Justice (DOJ) to dismiss all charges against Moore, who faced 35 years in federal prison after being accused in 2023 of a conspiracy to defraud the United States by dumping more than $28,000 worth of government-provided COVID-19 vaccines, issuing hundreds of fake vaccination record cards to “fraudulent vaccine card seekers,” and administering saline shots to children instead of the vaccine, at their parents’ request.

“Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused to do so,” Bondi said. “He did not deserve the years in prison he was facing. It ends today.”

The trial of the 58-year-old Moore began on July 7 in Salt Lake City, where supporters gathered to express their support, some holding signs with slogans such as “Coercion Is Not Consent” and “Dr. Moore is a hero, not a criminal.” Also attending the rally in support of Moore were several Republican lawmakers, including Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz, who said the charges were government overreach.

“The way those of us who stood up and pushed back were treated was wrong. We were treated like second-class citizens if we didn’t get the shot, we didn’t get the vaccine,” Schultz told the crowd on July 7, according to the Utah News Dispatch.

“Think about it for just a minute. You had to have a vaccine passport to walk down the streets and go into a shop, to go to a Jazz game, to go to a restaurant. That was unbelievable.”

Moore also received support from some federal lawmakers, such as Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.), who said she had petitioned the DOJ to have all of the charges dropped.

“This man is a hero, not a criminal,” Greene wrote in a post on social media. “The charges were filed under Biden’s DOJ, not Trump.”

Greene thanked Bondi for her intervention in the case. “We can never again allow our government to turn tyrannical under our watch,” she wrote. “This is a big win!”

The DOJ, under President Joe Biden, alleged that Moore’s actions endangered the health and well-being of Americans and undermined public confidence in government health initiatives.

“By allegedly falsifying vaccine cards and administering saline shots to children instead of COVID-19 vaccines, not only did this provider endanger the health and well-being of a vulnerable population, but also undermined public trust and the integrity of federal health care programs,” Curt Muller, special agent in charge with the Department of Health and Human Services, Office of the Inspector General, said in a January 2023 statement.

Moore was accused of running a vaccine scheme out of the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, located in Midvale. A 2023 indictment also charged two employees of the institute, Kari Dee Burgoyne and Sandra Flores, along with a woman named Kristin Andersen, identified in court records.

Federal prosecutors alleged that the four people accused discarded nearly 2,000 doses of the COVID-19 vaccine, issued fake vaccination cards, and, at the request of some parents, administered saline injections to children to make them believe that they had received the vaccine.

According to court documents, Moore and his co-defendants did this in exchange for cash payments or mandatory donations to a private organization with which both Andersen and Moore were affiliated.

Moore, who read out Bondi’s announcement in a video posted on the social media account of his fiancée, Alayna Raddon, thanked Bondi and all of his supporters.

“I really appreciate all the support, the two rallies that we had this week, the article written by Died Suddenly, obviously had a huge effect on what happened today, and I just want to thank everybody for that,” Moore said.

The Died Suddenly account on social media platform X, which advocates against COVID-19 vaccine mandates, expressed gratitude for Bondi’s decision to order the charges dismissed.

“This may be the first time in history that the DOJ has dropped this high of a profile of a case mid trial. Thank you @AGPamBondi for doing the right thing, and keeping this family together and dropping this needless persecution,” the account posted.