Brian Deer, a journalist who for years has covered the anti-vaccine movement, has written an editorial in the New York Times condemning controversial Trump nominee and conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for his actions in Samoa that led to a deadly measles outbreak there in 2019.
In his editorial, Deer declares that "I'll never forget" what RFK Jr. did in Samoa, and then detailed how Kennedy convinced the tiny island nation's government to halt its measles vaccination program — with disastrous results.
"In November 2019, when an epidemic of measles was killing children and babies in Samoa, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. — who in recent days became Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services — sent the prime minister of Samoa at the time a four-page letter," Deer begins. "In it, he suggested the measles vaccine itself may have caused the outbreak."
In reality, the outbreak of measles was due to the fact that measles vaccination rates had fallen after two children died after receiving vaccines in 2018 after their nurses mistakenly mixed expired anesthetic into their doses.
ALSO READ: 'We lost sight': Russian dissidents have warning for anti-Trump Americans
Kennedy and his fellow anti-vaccination allies were quick to pounce on the children's deaths even though the vaccines, if correctly administered, are completely safe for children.
As a result of this panic, writes Deer, "Samoa’s vaccination rates had fallen to less than a third of eligible 1-year-olds" by the time the outbreak struck in 2019.
"At the time of his letter, 16 people, many of them younger than 2, were already reported dead," writes Deer. "Measles, which is among the most contagious diseases, can sometimes lead to brain swelling, pneumonia and death. For months, families grieved over heartbreaking little coffins, until a door-to-door vaccination campaign brought the calamity to a close. The final number of fatalities topped 80."