Exclusive: RFK Jr. said a Samoa trip had nothing to do with vaccines. New documents refute that

New documents obtained by the Associated Press and The Guardian contradict statements made by Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during his 2025 confirmation hearings. Kennedy had told lawmakers that his 2019 trip to Samoa, prior to a deadly measles outbreak, was unrelated to vaccines. However, newly revealed documents show Kennedy wrote to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the nation's measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines after two children died following vaccination. Kennedy's department maintains the trip was unrelated to vaccines, but the letter, which used the word "vaccine" or "vaccination" eight times, raises questions about his congressional testimony. The Samoan government had halted vaccinations for 10 months prior to Kennedy's visit due to the deaths, leading to a significant drop in vaccination rates.

New documents obtained by the Associated Press and The Guardian contradict Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s testimony to Congress in 2025. Kennedy had stated that his 2019 trip to Samoa, prior to a deadly measles outbreak, was unrelated to vaccines. However, a letter he sent to the Samoan prime minister before the trip requested to study the nation's measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, using the word "vaccine" or "vaccination" eight times. The Department of Health and Human Services maintains the visit was unrelated to vaccines. The documents raise questions about Kennedy's truthfulness during his confirmation hearings, where he also pledged to maintain vaccine policies he later changed.

Newly obtained documents suggest US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. may have misled Congress regarding a 2019 visit to Samoa. Letters obtained by The Guardian and AP indicate Kennedy explicitly stated his intention to study the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine in Samoa prior to his trip, contradicting his testimony that the visit had "nothing to do with vaccines." Kennedy, then leading an anti-vaccine nonprofit, wrote to the Samoan prime minister proposing a health informatics assessment of the MMR vaccine, referencing two child deaths after vaccination. The Samoan prime minister welcomed the proposed assessment. A spokesperson for the Department of Health and Human Services stated Kennedy's visit was unrelated to vaccines and any claims of him lying are false and defamatory.