RFK told Congress he didn’t go to Samoa in 2019 to study measles vaccines — so why does his old letter mention it eight times?

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. testified before Congress that a 2019 visit to Samoa before a measles outbreak had nothing to do with vaccines. However, new documents reveal that Kennedy's 2019 letter to the Samoan prime minister explicitly requested a study of the Pacific island nation's measles, mumps, and rubella vaccines, mentioning vaccines or vaccinations eight times.

This discrepancy raises questions about the accuracy of Kennedy's testimony to Congress. During the confirmation process, Kennedy pledged to maintain vaccine policies, but once in office, he changed them. HHS stated that the Samoa visit was unrelated to vaccines, calling any claim of Kennedy lying under oath or to Congress false and defamatory.

The Samoa visit has been a contentious issue in Kennedy's career, as critics claim it encouraged anti-vaccine activism in Samoa, leading to an outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children under 5.