RFK Jr as Secretary of Health will be a disaster for Samoa’s public health

A Samoan nurse administers one of two doses of Vitamin A to seven-month-old (Photo: UNICEF)

The Samoa Director General of Health, Aiono Dr Alec Ekeroma, has described the nomination of Robert F Kennedy Junior as the U.S Secretary of Health and Human Services as a disaster for Samoa’s public health.

Kennedy had been grilled by the Senate at his confirmation hearing last week and he was questioned
about his time in Samoa in June 2019, months before the measles outbreak, which killed 83 mainly babies.

Speaking on the Washington-based Democracy Now program, Aiono said Kennedy spread anti vax misinformation prior to the measles outbreak on 16 October 2019.

Kennedy visited Samoa as a guest at the Independence celebrations in June where he met the Prime
Minister at the time, Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi and discussed how Kennedy’s charity Childrens Health Defence could help improve Samoa’s health system.

According to Aiono, he came to talk about some data base, and spoke to the Director General of Health,
“and his presence did not improve our ICT capabilities.”

At the time he visited, Samoa was at its lowest vaccination rate after two babies died at Safotu Hospital having been administered the wrong MMR mix and the two nurses responsible had been jailed for
manslaughter.

“So, Kennedy’s visited a few months before, actually emboldened the anti-vaccine campaigners locally
and New Zealand who sowed the vaccine hesitancy in the country,” said Aiono.

Samoa declared a state of emergency in mid November 2019, enforcing MMR vaccinations, after 6
recorded deaths from measles since the outbreak a month before.

In November, Kennedy wrote to then Prime Minister claiming that it was not the virus killing the children but the vaccine itself.

During last week’s Senate hearing, Kennedy claimed nobody knows what killed those children even though the vaccination later stopped more children dying from measles.

If he is confirmed, Kennedy will Head the Health Ministry with a US$2000 billion budget and employing 90 thousand people.

For Samoa, Aiono says that will be a disaster for the country’s public health system.

“Already there’s going to be reduction to US funding to UN and WHO that’s going to affect our capability here. And then add in Bob Kennedy in this role, that’s going to slow down the flow of vaccines to us; that is going to harm the state of public health in this country so its going to be a disaster for us,” said Aiono.