Robert F. Kennedy Jr., Donald Trump’s choose to guide the Division of Well being and Human Providers, is receiving renewed scrutiny and criticism for his alleged position in a 2019 measles outbreak that killed over 80 individuals in Samoa.
This week, Kennedy is scheduled to fulfill with Democratic senators on the Capitol to ask for his or her votes to substantiate him.
Kennedy was chosen by Trump to guide the company, which has oversight of key organizations like Meals and Drug Administration, the Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention, and Nationwide Institutes of Well being, regardless of Kennedy’s historical past of attacking vaccination and selling anti-vaccine conspiracy theories.
In a new advert marketing campaign and accompanying mini documentary, the advocacy group 314 Motion is highlighting Kennedy’s actions selling vaccine misinformation in Samoa. Kennedy traveled to the nation in 2019, assembly with authorities officers and anti-vaccine influencers. Quickly after, a measles outbreak killed at the least 83 individuals and hospitalized 1,867. A lot of the victims of the outbreak had been infants and younger kids.
In 2021, Kennedy wrote a weblog put up that described the lethal outbreak of measles as “mild.”
In 314 Motion’s advert, Hawaii Gov. Josh Inexperienced, who can also be a health care provider, mentioned he visited Samoa as a part of a vaccination marketing campaign.
“In the months leading up to that, RFK Jr. had spread so much disinformation that the country stopped vaccinating,” Inexperienced mentioned. “And that caused a tragic and fatal spread of the measles.”
Within the advert, Inexperienced accused Kennedy of legitimizing “fake health groups,” an motion which Inexperienced mentioned “killed children.”
Dr. Heath Chung, an infectious illness specialist, additionally seems within the advert and attributes the outbreak in Samoa to the unfold of anti-vaccine misinformation.
Samoan well being officers have additionally lately criticized Kennedy’s nomination, citing the impact his promotion of misinformation had of their nation.
“We cannot and should not stay silent. We know what this appointment means. It means more platforms for anti-vaxxers and less funding for vaccines and health programs,” Aiono Prof Alec Ekeroma, who serves as that nation’s director of common well being, instructed The Guardian in November.
Polling reveals opposition to Kennedy’s nomination as soon as voters are made conscious of his positions. In a ballot fielded Nov. 27-29 from Shield Our Care/Knowledge for Progress, solely 39% of respondents supported the nomination after they had been instructed about Kennedy’s opposition to drug improvement, illness analysis, and vaccination.
In his first administration, Trump presided over critical mismanagement of the COVID-19 outbreak. By the point he left workplace in January 2021, greater than 396,800 individuals had died from the virus. Kennedy’s nomination is an indication that Trump intends to proceed down the identical harmful path in relation to public well being.
