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During his Senate Finance Committee confirmation hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. blatantly lied about his deadly trip to the island nation of Samoa in 2018 and 2019, where he spearheaded a campaign against the measles vaccine amid a deadly outbreak. He visited the island to spread anti-vaccination conspiracy theories – which led to the deaths of 83 people, primarily infants and children. To this day, Kennedy refuses to take responsibility and continues to oppose lifesaving vaccines. Read Protect Our Care’s report here: Misinformation Kills: RFK Jr’s Deadly Visit To Samoa.
THE TIMELINE
2018
- Two children in Samoa died after receiving their MMR vaccine as a result of nurses improperly mixing the vaccines with a liquid muscle relaxant instead of water. The nurses were sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter.
- RFK Jr’s Children’s Health Defense posted on Facebook questioning the safety of all measles vaccines, but never informed the public about the true cause of the deaths.
- The World Health Organization estimated that in 2018, only 31 percent of infants in Samoa received the measles vaccine, a drop from 60 to 70 percent in previous years.
- RFK Jr’s Children’s Health Defense.
2019
- While vaccination rates were dropping, Kennedy traveled to Samoa in June 2019, meeting with the Prime Minister and other government officials. The trip had been arranged by a prominent Samoan anti-vaccine activist, and paid for by Children’s Health Defense. RFK Jr. appeared with government officials and local anti-vaccine activists.
- A measles outbreak in Samoa began in September 2019.
- A state of emergency was declared in November 2019, closing all schools, keeping children under 17 away from public events, and mandating vaccines.
- The anti-vaccine activists with ties to Kennedy used misinformation and harsh rhetoric to oppose the government’s efforts in containing the outbreak.
- In November 2019, Children’s Health Defense shared a four-page letter offering “assistance” that Kennedy wrote to the Samoan Prime Minister, in which he encouraged officials to examine the MMR vaccine itself as a possible cause.
- In December 2019, volunteers in Rotura, New Zealand prepared dozens of child-sized caskets to send to Samoa to help deal with the loss of so many infants and toddlers.
- A compulsory mass vaccination campaign brought rates back up to 95 percent and the government introduced a new law in December 2019 requiring all children to be fully immunised before starting primary school. The door-to-door vaccination campaign is credited with bringing the months-long tragedy to a close.
2020
- By January 22, 2020, 5,707 measles cases and 83 measles-related deaths were reported. 87 percent of the reported deaths were children younger than 5 years.