US Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. told lawmakers during Senate confirmation proceedings that his 2019 visit to Samoa had “nothing to do with vaccines.” Multiple outlets report that newly obtained documents challenge that account.
According to The Guardian and Associated Press, letters show Kennedy wrote to Samoa’s prime minister before the trip and explicitly described an interest in studying measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination. The reporting says the letter uses the terms “vaccine” or “vaccination” multiple times, contradicting his later characterization of the trip’s purpose. Similar themes are echoed in coverage by MedPage Today and the HuffPost UK.
The articles also note that Kennedy made the “nothing to do with vaccines” statement during more than one congressional hearing tied to his confirmation. While outlets differ in how strongly they word the allegation, they agree that the documents present a different stated purpose for the visit than his testimony. Overall, the reporting focuses on the conflict between his sworn statements and the contents of the pre-trip correspondence.
