Fresh attention on the deadly measles outbreak in Samoa in 2019

As U.S. senators grill Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week, President Trump’s controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services is facing sharp questions about his actions in Samoa in 2019, months before a devastating measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives, many of them young children.

Kennedy’s 2019 visit to Samoa has brought fresh attention to his history of activism focused on raising questions about the safety and effectiveness of the measles vaccine.

Sharp questioning of Kennedy points to his anti vaccine stance having signed a petition to block peoples access to vaccines during covid-19 and point to a book he wrote that said people have been misled into believing that measles is a deadly disease.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is President Trump’s controversial pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services.

Kennedy has maintained that he had “nothing to do” with the people of Samoa resisting vaccines.

“I had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa,” he said in an interview with documentary producer Scott Hamilton Kennedy. “I never told anyone not to vaccinate.”

Senator Ron Wyden accused Kennedy of contributing to the deaths by “spreading lies” on the island.

Kennedy told the Senate his trip to Samoa was not related to vaccines, but instead to help digitise health records.

He said the vaccination rate on the island was already low before he arrived.

“I went there for nothing to do with vaccines. I never gave any public statements about vaccines,” he said.

“You will not find a single Samoan who says I didn’t get a vaccination due to Robert Kennedy.”

However, following the trip, Kennedy wrote that it had been organised by a local vaccine critic.

A young boy on the grave of two babies who died during the 2019 measles outbreak.

New Zealand vaccinologist Helen Petousis-Harris told Morning Report, there would have been people in Samoa who absolutely did not get vaccinated due to Kennedy’s influence.

“There has been an active opposition to vaccines in Samoa for many years, and that disinformation source is RFK and his organisation.

“Yes I think you can directly lay some responsibility on that organistaion.”

In 2019, Petousis-Harris said Kennedy had weakened an “already fragile trust” in Samoa.

“A person who has the status of RFK Jr just I guess further amplifies what those local anti-vaccine advocates had been saying,” she said.

It wasn’t until early December 2019 that the Samoan government conceded it had mishandled immunizations and launched an aggressive national vaccination campaign, making the shots mandatory. That delayed response may have contributed to the high infection and death rates. But finally, the country shut down for two days to allow health workers to vaccinate people at home, quickly achieving 90% coverage.

Hundreds of medical professionals from around the world responded and travelled to Samoa to help with the vaccination efforts.

Kennedy said if he was confirmed to lead the Department of health and human services he would not interfere with people’s rights to get vaccinated for measles and polio.