Article title: How RFK Jr. Falsely Denied His Connection to a Deadly Measles Outbreak in Samoa
Outlet and publication year: Mother Jones | July 2, 2024
Author(s): David Corn
Appearing in Shot in the Arm, a 2023 documentary about vaccine opposition, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was asked about the deadly measles outbreak that occurred in Samoa in 2019 and claimed the lives of 83 people, mostly children. Kennedy, a leading anti-vaxxer who had visited the Pacific island nation a few months before the outbreak, replied, “I’m aware there was a measles outbreak…I had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa. I never told anybody not to vaccinate. I didn’t go there with any reason to do with that.”
Kennedy was being disingenuous, sidestepping his connection to that tragedy. Children’s Health Defense, the nonprofit anti-vax outfit he led until becoming a presidential candidate, had helped spread misinformation that contributed to the decline in measles vaccination that preceded the lethal eruption. And during his trip to Samoa, Kennedy had publicly supported leading vaccination opponents there, lending credibility to anti-vaxxers who were succeeding in increasing vaccine hesitation among Samoans. Moreover, in early 2021, Kennedy, in a little-noticed blog post, hailed one of those vaccination foes as a “hero.”
The author provides no evidence supporting that RFK Jr told anybody not to get vaccinated during his visit to Samoa. Furthermore, Children’s Health Defense (CHD) could not have contributed to the decline in measles vaccination the author cites, as explained below. The author also asserts that RFK Jr.’s visit gave a boost to local anti-vaxxers who had help cause the drop in vaccination rates. Again, this is impossible given the timing of the suspension of the measles vaccination program and the vaccination rates cited by the author, also explained below. Assertions of his responsibility for declining coverage as a result of his visit to Samoa are speculative and lack empirical support.
Despite the article’s title, “How RFK Jr. Falsely Denied His Connection to a Deadly Measles Outbreak in Samoa,” there is no evidence of any falsehood in RFK Jr’s reply.
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BK: Did RFK Jr cause a measles outbreak in Samoa?
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In the years prior to 2019, measles had not been a problem in Samoa. But in 2018, two infants died after receiving the measles vaccine. The country quickly placed its vaccine program on hold, as vaccine opponents, including Children’s Health Defense, exploited these deaths to raise questions about the safety of vaccines. The vaccination rate plummeted from in the 60-to-70 percent range to 31 percent.
This implies that Children’s Health Defense (CHD) contributed to a vaccination rate of 31%. This is the exact estimate for vaccination coverage in 2018 provided by the WHO and UNICEF. The Samoan government suspended its measles vaccination program from July 2018 to April 2019. The drop in vaccination coverage to 31% cannot be attributed in any way to CHD since the suspension continued through the end of 2018.
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