The Devastating Events That Followed RFK Jr.’s Visit to Samoa in 2019 Could Be a Preview of What’s to Come Under His Leadership at HHS
Kennedy with anti-vaccine activists Edwin Tamaese and Taylor Winterstein in June 2019
[Photo: Children’s Health Defense]
RFK Jr’s anti-vaccine efforts in Samoa played a direct role in the deaths of 83 people, mostly children, during a measles outbreak in 2019. In 2018 and early 2019, Children’s Health Defense, an RFK Jr.-led organization, made posts on Facebook undermining the safety of vaccines and paid for Kennedy’s trip to Samoa where he spread anti-vaccine rhetoric in meetings with government officials and other anti-vaccine activists. The vaccine misinformation, which was directly tied to Kennedy’s visit, was detrimental to the Samoan government’s efforts to contain the measles outbreak.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. Samoa now requires compulsory vaccination of children before starting primary school and measles vaccine rates have risen to 95 percent.
The Timeline:
2018
- Two children in Samoa died after receiving their MMR vaccine. Two nurses improperly mixed 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 measles vaccines.
- 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 never updated the public about the true cause of the babies’ deaths.
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.
- The measles outbreak 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.
- 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.