Recent Findings Challenge RFK Jr.’s Senate Testimony on Samoa Visit

Recent evidence indicates that Robert F. Kennedy Jr. was conducting a vaccine‑related mission during his 2019 trip to Samoa, which preceded a severe measles outbreak, prompting fresh doubts about whether the U.S. health secretary misled the Senate by claiming the visit was unrelated to vaccines.

According to documents obtained by The Guardian, a colleague of Kennedy informed Samoan officials via email that Kennedy and he were traveling to study the country’s medical records following a disruption in vaccination programs.

‘We look forward to serving the people of Samoa through this mission,’ Dr. Michael Graven wrote.

At that time, Kennedy held the positions of chair and chief legal counsel for Children’s Health Defense, an organization recognized for its anti‑vaccine stance; Graven served as its chief information officer. Representatives from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services did not respond to inquiries.

Kennedy’s visit to the Pacific island has attracted significant criticism ahead of his appointment as health secretary under former President Trump. He has repeatedly asserted that his purpose in Samoa was not vaccine‑related and that the trip did not affect vaccination attitudes. During a Senate confirmation hearing, he claimed, “You can’t find a single Samoan who will say I didn’t get a vaccine because of Bobby Kennedy,” adding that he attended a Samoan independence celebration and aimed to introduce a cutting‑edge medical informatics system.

Samoan officials noted that Kennedy’s presence lent credibility to anti‑vaccine advocates. A measles epidemic that emerged a few months after his visit infected thousands and resulted in 83 deaths, predominantly among children under five.

Earlier this year, The Guardian and The Associated Press obtained internal emails from U.S. government and UNICEF officials that contradicted Kennedy’s explanations for the Samoa visit, leading two Democratic senators and a House member to allege that he misled Congress.

The U.S. Department of State has been releasing the emails—many heavily redacted—in batches since January following an open‑records lawsuit assisted by the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press.

Anti‑vaccine activists in the United States became focused on Samoa after two infants died in 2018 from a improperly prepared measles, mumps and rubella vaccine. The government suspended all vaccinations for ten months, until April 2019, causing a steep decline in immunization rates. During this period, Kennedy’s organization, Children’s Health Defense, began contacting the Samoan government, as documented in previously obtained emails.

Despite overwhelming evidence of vaccine safety and their life‑saving impact, Kennedy has long advocated for studies that compare health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated children. The temporary suspension of vaccinations in Samoa would have created such a natural experiment.

By the time Kennedy arrived on May 30, 2019, vaccinations had restarted, though coverage remained low.

State Department emails show Graven exchanged correspondence with Samoan officials prior to the arrival of Kennedy, his wife, and Cheryl Hines, star of “Curb Your Enthusiasm,” who also traveled to Samoa.

In an email dated March 8, 2019, Graven wrote that he would “be with Mr. Kennedy as the health informatician conducting statistical investigations.”

Two months later, on May 13, he sent a follow‑up message stating he had discussed the trip with Kennedy and referred to it repeatedly as a “mission.”

‘The mission involves evaluating health informatics using medical record data from all hospitals and clinics in Samoa to assess outcomes related to the recent vaccination discontinuation,’ Graven wrote. ‘Mr. Kennedy asked me to join because I have led health informatics initiatives in 48 countries over the past 40 years.’

Graven, a pediatrician who passed away in 2022, outlined plans to collect data and perform statistical analysis, intending to visit every hospital and clinic in Samoa.

He emphasized that the mission would be carried out “without bias,” noting his experience witnessing harmful effects of vaccine‑preventable diseases and his work in countries where substandard vaccine lots were identified.

Graven’s account contrasts with Kennedy’s Senate testimony last year, in which he repeatedly denied any connection between the trip and vaccines. During questioning by Oregon Senator Ron Wyden, Kennedy stated, “I went there; it had nothing to do with vaccines. I went to introduce a medical informatics system with digitalized records in Samoa to improve health delivery.”

The next day, under questioning by Massachusetts Senator Edward Markey, Kennedy responded, “My purpose in going there had nothing to do with vaccines.”

When pressed further, Kennedy again denied any vaccine‑related motive, adding, “My purpose in the trip was not that—I ended up having conversations with people, some of whom I never intended to meet.”

Kennedy later disclosed that Children’s Health Defense held a $6 million grant “to digitize health records in Samoa and introduce a state‑of‑the‑art medical informatics system,” which he described as the purpose of his visit.

According to emails obtained by The Guardian, Graven outlined in March and May that he intended to spend weeks visiting sites and collecting and analyzing data. However, an email from Antone Greubel, a State Department employee stationed in Samoa, sent on June 4, indicated that Graven departed with Kennedy just days after arrival.

Greubel wrote, “Based on conversations with my contacts, RFK and Dr. Graven fell far short of their goal to influence Samoan government vaccination policy.”

These emails provide the most detailed account yet of Kennedy’s Samoa trip, suggesting it was linked to his longstanding interest in scientific studies comparing health outcomes between vaccinated and unvaccinated individuals. Children’s Health Defense did not comment in response to a request for comment.

Kennedy’s 2023 book, Vax‑UnVax: Let the Science Speak, calls for additional studies comparing the health of fully vaccinated children with their unvaccinated peers. The New York Times recently reported that, as health secretary, Kennedy has directed government scientists to conduct such research, which he believes will demonstrate vaccines’ harms. Moreover, last year the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention awarded funding to a study comparing hepatitis B‑vaccinated children with unvaccinated peers in Guinea‑Bissau; the World Health Organization and others deemed the study unethical and halted it.

Wyden told The Guardian that the new findings “provide further evidence that Robert Kennedy is a liar on a mission to remove vaccines from children who need them.” He added, “Republicans have turned a blind eye to Kennedy’s anti‑vaccine crusade and abdicated their responsibility to hold those who lie to Congress accountable. Democrats will not hesitate to use every available tool to counter the Trump administration’s health policies, which we believe are making America sicker and poorer.”

In a 2021 blog post, Kennedy stated that his Samoa visit was intended to discuss “the introduction of a medical informatics system” to monitor drug safety, noting that Samoan officials were interested in measuring health outcomes following what he called a “natural experiment” created by a temporary pause in vaccinations.

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