During his 2025 confirmation hearings, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. repeatedly told senators that his 2019 visit to Samoa, made months before a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children under 5, had nothing to do with vaccines. Documents obtained by the Associated Press and The Guardian, and published August 27, 2026, contradict that account.
A letter dated January 20, 2019, written on Children's Health Defense letterhead and addressed to then-Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi, asks to study Samoa's use of the MMR vaccine after two children died following improperly prepared doses. Kennedy used the words vaccine or vaccination eight times. “I would propose my team conduct detailed health informatics assessment in Samoa of what happened with your MMR vaccines,” he wrote, speculating that the deaths may have been caused by problems with particular vaccine lots. The letter surfaced through a lawsuit against the State Department brought with the aid of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.
The testimony it contradicts was specific and repeated. Asked by Sen. Ron Wyden, Kennedy said, “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.” Asked the next day by Sen. Ed Markey, he said, “My purpose in going down there had nothing to do with vaccines.”
One detail matters for how this is described. Kennedy was not under oath at his confirmation hearing. Knowingly giving materially false testimony to Congress is a crime carrying a possible prison sentence whether or not a witness is sworn, though it is rarely prosecuted. HHS told the AP the visit “was unrelated to vaccines” and called any insinuation that Kennedy lied “not only false but outright defamatory.” HHS did not make Kennedy available for an interview, and the White House did not respond.
The confirmation turned on assurances. Sen. Bill Cassidy, the Louisiana physician who chairs the Senate HELP Committee and has strongly advocated vaccination, provided a decisive vote after Kennedy pledged to leave certain vaccine policies alone, including maintaining the federal vaccine advisory committee “without changes.” In office, Kennedy ousted all 17 members and named his own. Cassidy said in June, “The commitments that were made to me have been violated.” The Senate confirmed Kennedy 52-48.
Wyden said he will press Republicans to refer the matter to the Justice Department: “There are consequences for lying to Congress.” Attorneys told the AP that lawmakers could use the statements as grounds for hearings, investigations, or an impeachment inquiry, though action is unlikely in the current Republican-led Congress (see RFK Jr. Tells Congress 'I've Never Been Anti-Vaccine' as Measles Cases Pass 1,700, With His Own Recorded Quotes Contradicting Him, Kennedy Replaced All 17 CDC Vaccine Advisers, and the Panel He Appointed Rewrote the Childhood Schedule and The Worst U.S. Measles Year Since 1991, and an Elimination Status Now Under Review).