\n
Kennedy, then a prominent anti-vaccine activist, preceded the visit with a letter to the Samoan prime minister requesting to study the Pacific island nation\u2019s measles, mumps and rubella vaccines after the deaths of two children who had received them. In the letter, he used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times.<\/p>\n
The letter raises questions about how truthful Kennedy was in testimony before Congress. During an arduous confirmation process where he needed the support of some\u00a0skeptical Republican lawmakers\u00a0to advance, Kennedy also\u00a0pledged to maintain vaccine policies\u00a0that, once in office, he moved to change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI am writing this letter to you in the hope that we might be helpful to the people of your great nation,\u201d Kennedy wrote, adding that he believed the deaths of the two children could have resulted from manufacturing issues.<\/p>\n
\u201cI would propose my team conduct detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n
The Department of Health and Human Services said in response to questions from the AP that the Samoa visit \u201cwas unrelated to vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cAny claim or insinuation based on these letters that Secretary Kennedy lied under oath or to Congress is not only false but outright defamatory,\u201d the department said in a written statement. Kennedy was not under oath during his confirmation hearing. Knowingly giving material false testimony to Congress\u00a0is a crime\u00a0that carries a possible prison sentence regardless of whether a person is under oath, though it is rarely prosecuted.<\/p>\n
HHS did not make Kennedy available for an interview. The White House did not respond to a request for comment. The Samoan prime minister\u2019s office and the former prime minister who corresponded with Kennedy did not respond to requests for comment.<\/p>\n
Kennedy\u2019s Samoa visit has become one of the most contentious events in his career. At the time, he was leading a nonprofit\u00a0known for its anti-vaccine activism. Critics said the visit emboldened anti-vaccine activists in Samoa, which later experienced the measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children under 5.<\/p>\n
Lawyers with expertise in Senate procedure said that if lawmakers choose, they could use Kennedy\u2019s statements as grounds for hearings, an impeachment inquiry or creating other obstacles for him. But such action is unlikely under the current Republican-led Congress, which is aligned with President Donald Trump\u2019s administration.<\/p>\n
Under repeated questioning, Kennedy insisted vaccines weren\u2019t the reason for the trip<\/h4>\n
At the start of Trump\u2019s second term, Kennedy \u2014 a leader in the anti-vaccine movement before entering politics \u2014 faced an uphill battle as he sought to become the nation\u2019s health secretary. Lawmakers from both parties had criticized his anti-vaccine rhetoric, and during his confirmation hearings, he tried to assure them that he supported childhood vaccination.<\/p>\n
The Samoa trip also\u00a0came under scrutiny.<\/p>\n
Kennedy told the senators that his Samoa visit did not influence people\u2019s decisions on whether to vaccinate.<\/p>\n
Several times, he flatly denied that his reason for the trip had anything to do with vaccines.<\/p>\n
When it came up during questioning by Sen. Ron Wyden, D-Ore., Kennedy replied: \u201cI 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.\u201d<\/p>\n
The following day, when Sen. Edward Markey, D-Mass., asked, Kennedy said: \u201cMy purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines.\u201d<\/p>\n
Upon further questioning, Kennedy again denied it had anything to do with vaccines before adding: \u201cMy purpose in the trip was not to \u2014 I ended up having conversations with people, some of whom I never intended to meet.\u201d<\/p>\n
In the end, Kennedy\u00a0won crucial support\u00a0from Republican Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician who leads the Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee and has strongly advocated vaccination. The Senate\u00a0confirmed Kennedy\u00a0on a 52-48 vote.<\/p>\n
Cassidy said he voted to confirm Kennedy because he received commitments that as health secretary, he would not change certain vaccine policies and guidance. For example, Cassidy said in a speech announcing his vote, Kennedy pledged to maintain a federal vaccine advisory committee \u201cwithout changes.\u201d Once in office, Kennedy\u00a0ousted all 17 members of the committee\u00a0and named his own advisers.<\/p>\n
Cassidy has acknowledged his trust in Kennedy was broken.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe commitments that were made to me have been violated,\u201d Cassidy said on CBS\u2019s \u201cFace the Nation\u201d in June.<\/p>\n
Letters show Kennedy wanted to study Samoa\u2019s use of MMR vaccine<\/h4>\n
Kennedy for years was chair and chief legal counsel of Children\u2019s Health Defense, a nonprofit group known for its\u00a0anti-vaccine activism. The group turned its attention to Samoa in July 2018, when two young children died after being given a tainted MMR vaccine that had been improperly prepared. The two nurses involved were criminally charged the month after the children died. The nurses ultimately pleaded guilty to manslaughter.<\/p>\n
The Samoan government halted all vaccinations for 10 months, until April 2019. Vaccination rates plummeted.<\/p>\n
During that time, CHD started contacting the Samoan government,\u00a0according to emails previously obtained\u00a0by the AP and the Guardian as the result of a lawsuit against the State Department brought with the aid of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.<\/p>\n
In the newly obtained letter from Kennedy, also revealed through the lawsuit and dated Jan. 20, 2019, he addressed then-Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and described his desire to study Samoa\u2019s use of the MMR vaccine.<\/p>\n
Kennedy speculated that the deaths in Samoa may have been caused by issues with different vaccine lots. Writing on CHD letterhead, he said his team wanted to evaluate whether that was the case through a \u201cdetailed health informatics assessment.\u201d<\/p>\n
He expressed his belief that it was difficult and time-consuming in most of the world to investigate \u201cadverse health events associated with vaccines\u201d and said health information systems are rarely designed to quickly study links \u201cbetween diagnoses and specific vaccination events.\u201d<\/p>\n
The letter did not specifically discuss anti-vaccine activism.<\/p>\n
The prime minister responded a month later, saying Samoa could benefit from CHD\u2019s assessment of MMR vaccines.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt is certainly beneficial for Samoa to have the benefit of your Team\u2019s independent health assessment of our MMR Vaccines and I would welcome with much anticipation your Team\u2019s proposed visit to our islands,\u201d he wrote, including a representative from the U.S. Embassy on his communication.<\/p>\n
CHD did not respond to a request for comment.<\/p>\n
Kennedy, his wife, actor Cheryl Hines, and Michael Graven, a CHD colleague, took their trip to Samoa in May and June of that year. By then, vaccinations had resumed and Samoa\u2019s top health official had publicly announced that human error, not a vaccine issue, was responsible for the children\u2019s deaths.<\/p>\n
While Kennedy was there, he met with anti-vaccine activists, including one who helped arrange the trip with a U.S. Embassy employee, the AP and the Guardian previously reported.<\/p>\n
Months later, with vaccination rates still dangerously low, measles broke out, sickening thousands.<\/p>\n
Public health experts have said their efforts to address the outbreak were hampered by anti-vaccine activists, some of whom they claim were\u00a0emboldened by Kennedy\u2019s visit.<\/p>\n
The AP and the Guardian previously reported that officials with the State Department and UNICEF privately discussed that the trip was about vaccines. In response, some Democratic politicians, including Wyden and Markey, have said Kennedy lied or misled the Senate.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
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<\/p>\n