Kennedy Measles Samoa
FILE - Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., right, President Donald Trump's nominee to serve as Secretary of Health and Human Services, talks with Committee Chairman Sen. Bill Cassidy, R-La., following his confirmation hearing on Capitol Hill, Jan. 30, 2025, in Washington.
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The Associated Press and The Guardian have obtained documents that contradict statements made by current Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during two congressional hearings in 2025. Kennedy was seeking confirmation for the Cabinet post. He told senators that a trip he took to Samoa in 2019 before a deadly measles outbreak had “nothing to do with vaccines.” The new documents show he wrote the then-prime minister saying he wanted his team to study what happened with the measles, mumps and rubella vaccine in the Pacific island nation. The letter raises questions about how truthful Kennedy was in testimony before Congress. Kennedy's department says the Samoa visit was “unrelated to vaccines.”