27/06/2026 13:46 - Internacionales
Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump's nominee for Secretary of Health and Human Services, faces serious questions after The Guardian obtained emails that contradict his sworn testimony before the U.S. Senate about a controversial 2019 trip to Samoa.
During his confirmation hearings, Kennedy repeatedly stated under oath that his visit to the Pacific island nation "had nothing to do with vaccines." However, State Department emails obtained through a freedom of information lawsuit paint a dramatically different picture.
On May 13, 2019, Dr. Michael Graven, then information officer for Children's Health Defense, wrote to Samoan officials:
"The mission involves assessment of medical informatics of records from all hospitals and clinics in Samoa to evaluate outcomes associated with the recent discontinuity in vaccinations."
Graven explicitly described Kennedy's visit as a "mission" related to analyzing vaccination data.
Months after Kennedy's visit, Samoa suffered a devastating measles outbreak that infected thousands and killed 83 people, predominantly children under five years old.
Samoan health officials later stated that Kennedy's presence strengthened anti-vaccine activists' credibility at a critical moment when vaccination rates had plummeted.
Samoa is a small island nation in the South Pacific with a population of approximately 200,000. The country became a focal point for anti-vaccine activists after two infants died in 2018 following administration of a measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine that had been incorrectly prepared by nurses who mixed the vaccine powder with a muscle relaxant instead of the proper diluent.
Following this tragedy, the Samoan government suspended all vaccinations for 10 months until April 2019, causing vaccination rates to plummet dramatically. This created what anti-vaccine activists viewed as a unique opportunity to study children who had not been vaccinated.
Children's Health Defense, the organization Kennedy led before his nomination, is known for spreading vaccine misinformation and has historically sought to conduct studies comparing vaccinated versus unvaccinated children to claim vaccines cause harm. Samoa's vaccination pause potentially provided that opportunity.
| Occasion | Kennedy's Statement |
|---|---|
| 2025 Confirmation Hearing | "I went there, nothing to do with vaccines. I went to introduce a medical informatics system." |
| Questioned by Senator Ron Wyden | "My purpose in going there had nothing to do with vaccines." |
| Questioned by Senator Edward Markey | Reiterated that the purpose "had nothing to do with vaccines." |
Democratic Senator Ron Wyden of Oregon told The Guardian that these new findings "offer more proof that Robert Kennedy is a liar on a mission to take vaccines away from children who need them."
Two Democratic senators and a House representative had previously indicated that earlier reports demonstrated Kennedy lied to the Senate. Under U.S. law, making false statements to Congress is a federal crime, though enforcement is rare for political appointees.
Source: The Guardian
Alfredo S. Quiroga
