“This is a pattern, not a slip. RFK Jr. has lied to the Senate, lied to the American people, and jeopardized the health of children to advance his anti-vaccine agenda. He should never have been confirmed, and he cannot be trusted to run [the US Department of Health and Human Services] for even one more day.
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RFK Jr. Told Senators His 2019 Samoa Trip Had "Nothing to Do With Vaccines" — a Newly Surfaced Letter He Wrote to Samoa’s Prime Minister Uses the Word Eight Times
August 27, 2026
On August 27, 2026, the Associated Press and The Guardian published a January 2019 letter, written on Children's Health Defense letterhead, in which Robert F. Kennedy Jr. asked Samoa's prime minister to let his team "conduct detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines," following the deaths of two children who had received them. The letter uses the words "vaccine" or "vaccination" eight times. Kennedy told two Senate committees during his 2025 confirmation hearings that the trip had nothing to do with vaccines — "I went there, nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatics system" — and denied any role in the measles outbreak that killed 83 people in Samoa later in 2019, most of them young children. He was confirmed 52-48. The Department of Health and Human Services said the visit was "unrelated to vaccines" and called the claim that Kennedy lied "not only false but outright defamatory." Sen. Ed Markey (D-MA) said Kennedy "should never have been confirmed"; Sen. Ron Wyden (D-OR), ranking Democrat on the Finance Committee that took the testimony, said he would press Republicans to refer the matter to the Justice Department. Hawaii Gov. Josh Green, an emergency physician who worked in Samoa, tied the episode to the current U.S. measles outbreak. The documents surfaced a day after the first U.S. measles deaths of 2026 were confirmed in Pennsylvania.
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Statements Recorded
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5 Statements
“There are consequences for lying to Congress.
“New documents confirm what we already knew: RFK Jr. lied to Congress. He told us his Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines—now this letter shows that was false.
“Misinformation and measles are a deadly combination—I saw that firsthand in Samoa. The truth is, this is a disease we know how to prevent. The MMR shot is the only proven and effective way to prevent the spread of measles.
“Vaccines save lives. Our public health decisions must be guided by doctors, scientists, and evidence—not conspiracy theories or political convenience.
Background (2)— earlier statements that set the stage▸
“I went there, nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatics system.
“My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines.