- Newly obtained documents reveal US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. wrote to Samoa’s prime minister in 2019 offering to evaluate MMR vaccines, directly contradicting his testimony to senators.
- During his Senate confirmation hearings, Kennedy repeatedly claimed his 2019 trip to Samoa had nothing to do with vaccines, despite using the word vaccine eight times in the correspondence.
- The Department of Health and Human Services maintained the visit was unrelated to vaccines, rejecting claims that Kennedy lied to Congress as defamatory.
- Kennedy’s visit preceded a devastating measles outbreak in Samoa that killed 83 people, predominantly children under five, following a sharp decline in immunisation rates.
- Several US senators have accused Kennedy of misleading Congress, with Republican Senator Bill Cassidy stating that trust was broken after Kennedy violated key commitments on vaccine policy.
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