Samoa’s Director General of Health, Aiono Professor Alec Ekeroma, has refuted recent statements made by Robert F. Kennedy Jr. regarding the 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa.
Kennedy, nominated by President Donald Trump for the position of U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary, claimed during a Senate hearing that tissue samples from the deceased were sent to New Zealand and showed no trace of the measles virus.
“That’s a complete lie,” Ekeroma stated. “There was only one post mortem – no tissues were sent to New Zealand for the rest of the deaths in Samoa, because it was not necessary, because it was obvious these people died from measles.”
He emphasized that the clinical presentations were unmistakably measles, corroborated by international experts present during the outbreak.
Dr. Andrew Old, Deputy Director-General for the Public Health Agency at New Zealand’s Ministry of Health, confirmed that while blood samples and swabs were sent to Australia and New Zealand early in the outbreak, they confirmed the presence of the measles virus.
He noted, “The samples confirmed the Samoa outbreak had the same measles strain as New Zealand – which had its own outbreak at the time.”
Ekeroma expressed deep concern over Kennedy’s potential appointment, stating, “I think this would be a disaster for public health in the world.” He also highlighted that during Kennedy’s visit to Samoa in June 2019, he met with anti-vaccine campaigners, which could have influenced vaccine hesitancy in the region.
The 2019 measles outbreak in Samoa resulted in 83 deaths, primarily affecting young children.