Robert F. Kennedy Jr. is facing fresh scrutiny over statements he made during two congressional hearings last year. The 72-year-old US health secretary told lawmakers that his 2019 visit to Samoa was unrelated to vaccines. But newly obtained letters tell a different story.
RFK Jr.’s letters to Samoa’s former leader appear to tell a different story about the purpose of his trip
The Guardian and the Associated Press obtained the letter. The letter written to then-Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi sheds more light on RFK Jr.’s trip to Samoa. Kennedy sent them on behalf of Children’s Health Defense, the anti-vaccine organization he was involved with at the time.
In the letter to the PM, RFK Jr. brought up vaccines eight times. Kennedy said he wanted to examine “deaths associated with MMR vaccine” in Samoa. He also offered to conduct a “detailed health informatics assessment” of the cases.
Two infants died following MMR vaccinations. An investigation later revealed that medical malpractice led to the deaths. Two nurses had mixed the dry MMR vaccine powder with an expired liquid muscle relaxant instead of sterile water. The nurses later pleaded guilty to manslaughter. Each was sentenced to five years in prison in July 2019.
Despite questions, Kennedy repeatedly insisted the trip had nothing to do with vaccines. In 2025, he said, as per AP, I went there – nothing to do with vaccines. I went there to introduce a medical informatics system that would digitalize records in Samoa and make health delivery much more efficient.”
The Department of Health and Human Services maintained that Kennedy’s trip to Samoa “was unrelated to vaccines” when asked about the visit. In a recent statement via The Guardian, the department stated, “Secretary Kennedy’s visit to Samoa in 2019 was unrelated to vaccines. Any claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory.” He was not under oath during either confirmation hearing.
Kennedy’s trip to Samoa has become one of the most controversial episodes of his career. He visited the island just months before a measles outbreak that killed 83 people. At the time, he was leading a nonprofit known for its anti-vaccine activism.
Originally reported by Meenakshi Sengupta on Mandatory
