RFK Jr. told Congress Samoa trip was not about vaccines, but letter says otherwise
Newly obtained documents show Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote to Samoa's prime minister in 2019 requesting to study the nation's MMR vaccines, contradicting his repeated statements to lawmakers that the trip had nothing to do with vaccines.
Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly told senators during his confirmation process that a 2019 visit to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines. Newly obtained documents contradict that testimony, showing he wrote to the Samoan prime minister before the trip requesting to study the nation's measles, mumps and rubella vaccines.
The letter, obtained by The Associated Press and The Guardian, uses the words vaccine or vaccination eight times. Kennedy, then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, wrote to the prime minister after two children died from a tainted MMR vaccine that had been improperly prepared. He proposed that his team conduct a detailed health informatics assessment of what happened with the vaccines.
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy faced repeated questioning about the trip. When Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., asked about it, Kennedy replied: "I went there, nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatics system that would digitalize records in Samoa and make health delivery much more efficient." The following day, when Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., asked, Kennedy said: "My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines."
The Department of Health and Human Services said in response to questions from the AP that the Samoa visit "was unrelated to vaccines." The department called any claim that Kennedy lied under oath "not only false but outright defamatory." Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing, though knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress is a crime regardless of whether a person is under oath.
Kennedy's Samoa visit has become one of the most contentious events in his career. At the time, he was leading Children's Health Defense, a nonprofit known for its anti-vaccine activism. Critics said the visit emboldened anti-vaccine activists in Samoa, which later experienced a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children under 5.
The Samoan government halted all vaccinations for 10 months after the two children died in July 2018. The two nurses involved were criminally charged and ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Vaccination rates plummeted during the suspension.
Kennedy won crucial support from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. Cassidy said he voted to confirm Kennedy because he received commitments that Kennedy would not change certain vaccine policies and guidance. Once in office, Kennedy ousted all 17 members of the federal vaccine advisory committee and named his own advisers. Cassidy has acknowledged his trust in Kennedy was broken.
Lawyers with expertise in Senate procedure said lawmakers could use Kennedy's statements as grounds for hearings or an impeachment inquiry, but such action is unlikely under the current Republican-led Congress, which is aligned with President Donald Trump's administration. HHS did not make Kennedy available for an interview, and the White House did not respond to a request for comment.
