Republican lawmakers — including the speaker of the Utah House — stood with about 60 demonstrators at the Orrin G. Hatch U.S. Courthouse on Monday, just before a trial was to begin for a plastic surgeon charged with running a COVID-19 fraud scheme.
Several of the demonstrators dressed in red, white and blue, and held American flags and handwritten signs in support of Dr. Michael Kirk Moore Jr. One sign read “Is this what we do to heroes?” while another said, “coercion is not consent.”
Another sign, quoting an X post attributed to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a longtime vaccine opponent and now Health and Human Services secretary, read: “Dr. Moore deserves a medal for his courage and his commitment to healing!”
Moore, 58, is accused of operating a vaccine scheme out of the Plastic Surgery Institute of Utah, at 7535 Union Park Ave., in Midvale. The indictment, issued in 2023, also charged two institute employees, Kari Dee Burgoyne and Sandra Flores, and a woman identified in court documents as Kristen Andersen.
Federal prosecutors alleged that the four discarded nearly 2,000 doses of the COVID vaccine, issued fraudulent vaccination cards, and — at the request of some parents — administered saline injections to children to make them believe they had been vaccinated.
Court records show Moore and his co-defendants are accused of destroying at least $28,000 worth of government-provided COVID-19 vaccines and distributing fake vaccination cards in exchange for direct cash payments or required donations to the private organization of which Andersen and Moore were members.
Moore’s 15-day jury trial began Monday morning with jury selection. U.S. District Judge Howard Nielson told a packed courtroom of potential jurors and a handful of Moore’s supporters that selection would be split between Monday and Tuesday.
At the rally outside the courthouse, Moore briefly took the microphone and thanked supporters. The crowd cheered and gave him a round of applause. Several drivers honked horns as they passed the courthouse.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Supporters of Kirk Moore rally on the steps of the Orrin G. Hatch Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Monday, July 7, 2025. Moore is accused of fraudulently distributing COVID-19 vaccination cards.
Utah House Speaker Mike Schultz thanked the demonstrators for gathering in support of Moore. He also railed against public health measures during the COVID-19 pandemic that he saw as government overreach.
“We were treated like second-class citizens because we didn’t get the shot,” Schultz told the crowd. “You had to have a vaccine passport to walk down the streets and go into a shop, to go to a Jazz game, go to a restaurant. That was unbelievable. It was wrong. I’m super grateful for those of you that stood up and came out and pushed back and said, enough is enough. We’re not going to let the government take away our freedom.”
The Utah Legislature banned so-called “vaccine passports” in government buildings, including colleges and universities, in 2021 — though private businesses maintained the right to bar customers who did not carry proof that they were vaccinated. The Jazz announced in September 2021 that fans over age 12 would have to show proof of vaccination during the 2021-2022 season; the team lifted the ban in February 2022.
When asked about his stance on Moore’s alleged illegal distribution of vaccine cards, Schultz told The Salt Lake Tribune, “I’m not here to judge what Dr. Moore did one way or the other. The vaccine mandates were flat-out unconstitutional, and that’s why I’m here today.”
Other Republican politicians in attendance at Monday’s demonstration were Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, and Phil Lyman, who ran unsuccessfully against Gov. Spencer Cox in 2024.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Rep. Trevor Lee, R-Layton, and House Speaker Mike Schultz, R-Hooper, gather with supporters of Kirk Moore at a rally on the steps of the Orrin G. Hatch Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Monday, July 7, 2025. Moore is accused of fraudulently distributing COVID-19 vaccination cards.
Leaders of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in 2021 said COVID-19 vaccines are safe and effective, and encouraged members to “safeguard themselves, their children, and their communities through vaccination,” but noted that vaccination is a personal decision.
As of 2023, Utah had distributed over 6 million COVID-19 vaccine doses, with more than 2 million residents fully vaccinated, according to data from Johns Hopkins University. The data shows 69% of the state’s population received the vaccine.
One demonstrator, Kristen Small, held up a sign with photos of her two brothers, both of whom, she said, died during the pandemic. Small said she believes state policies and the COVID-19 vaccine played a role in their deaths.
One brother died with an enlarged heart, she said, in May 2021, two weeks after receiving his second dose of the Pfizer vaccine. The other was denied monoclonal antibody treatment under a Utah policy that prioritized race and sex, Small said. He was placed on a ventilator and died, she said.
The state dropped race and sex eligibility criteria for monoclonal antibody treatment in January 2022, despite clinical data that showed men and patients of color were at a heightened risk of being hospitalized or dying from COVID-19.
Dion Barron, of Springville, said she turned to Moore for help after her daughter was hospitalized in California and she needed proof of vaccination to be by her side. She said she called a friend, who referred her to Moore.
“It was so scary that she was dying, and I didn’t have a way to get into the hospital,” Barron told demonstrators.
The rally was organized by We ARE the People Utah, a conservative podcast that has featured discussions on a number of conspiratorial topics. The podcast’s host, Jason Preston, confronted Cox at the Utah Republican Party’s 2023 organizing convention about a so-called “smart city” he claimed the state was building on the former site of the Utah State Prison at Point of the Mountain.
“Dr. Moore stood for truth when others complied,” Preston said in a news release. “This is a fight for justice, and we need Utah to stand with him.”
The podcast group’s release claimed that, between 2020 and 2022, Moore treated 800 to 1,000 patients free of charge using ivermectin and hydroxychloroquine, saying he helped families “preserve their jobs, education and medical autonomy.”
Both drugs were touted during the early days of the pandemic as potential treatments for COVID-19. However, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration warned in June 2020 that uses of hydroxychlorquine — a drug used to treat malaria — could lead to heart rhythm problems. Utah health officials in 2021 issued a warning that there was no evidence that ivermectin had any effect on COVID-19 infection.
Organizers and demonstrators called on the U.S. Justice Department to drop the charges against Moore, saying they don’t understand why the doctor’s prosecution has continued under the Trump administration.
(Rick Egan | The Salt Lake Tribune) Supporters of Kirk Moore rally on the steps of the Orrin G. Hatch Federal Courthouse in Salt Lake City on Monday, July 7, 2025. Moore is accused of fraudulently distributing COVID-19 vaccination cards.
“We understood it under the Biden administration and what their agenda was, but why is this prosecution going forward under the Trump administration?” said Robert Scott Bell, a homeopathic practitioner. ”Don’t they know this is wrong, and the people already are aware of the danger of forced medication from a federal level or at any level?"
Correction • An earlier version of this article incorrectly stated that the Utah Jazz did not require fans show proof of vaccination.