United States: Trump administration drops charges against doctor who destroyed vaccines

The abrupt halt to the proceedings, mid-trial and at the request of a hard-right elected official, is part of the U.S. government's shift toward vaccine skepticism since Donald Trump came to power. "Dr. Moore gave his patients a choice when the federal government refused. He didn't deserve the years in prison he faced," wrote Minister Pam Bondi on X.

Michael Kirk Moore, a Utah plastic surgeon, was indicted by federal courts in 2023 along with his clinic and three accomplices. They were accused of destroying $28,029 worth of Covid-19 vaccines and distributing at least 1,937 fake vaccination certificates in exchange for money.

Mr. Moore, who faced decades of imprisonment, was also accused of administering a simple saline solution to parents' children, passing it off as a Covid-19 vaccine, at their request. His trial began this week in federal court in Salt Lake City.

Republican Congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the US president's most vocal supporters, has called for the charges against Michael Kirk Moore to be dropped.

"This man is a hero" who is "being prosecuted for helping people evade the Democrats' tyrannical vaccine mandates," she wrote on X on Tuesday, quoting an article from the anti-vax sphere.

The pandemic has sparked intense political tensions in the United States, between advocates of protective measures and vaccination and a segment of the right opposed to restrictions on freedoms and vaccines. Donald Trump, himself vaccinated against Covid-19, appointed Robert Kennedy Jr. as Secretary of Health.