Tragedy struck a remote Pacific island only a few months before a global pandemic took over the headlines. Governor Josh Green of Hawaii believes that the measles outbreak in neighboring Samoa, resulting in the deaths of 83 people, mostly infants and children, was a preventable disaster caused by Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President Trump’s nominee for health and human services secretary and a notorious vaccine skeptic.
In December 2019, Dr. Green, an emergency medical physician and Hawaii’s Democratic lieutenant governor at the time, led a medical team to Samoa with thousands of vaccine doses in an effort to help. Last month, he went to Washington to inform lawmakers about Kennedy’s role in the Samoa outbreak.
Kennedy’s confirmation hearings are scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday before two Senate committees, who will then decide on advancing his nomination to the full Senate.
Democrats are using Kennedy’s connection to the Samoa outbreak to build opposition against his nomination. Dr. Green recently appeared in an ad by the liberal group 314 Action, stating, “R.F.K. Jr. had spread so much misinformation that the country stopped vaccinating, leading to a tragic measles outbreak.”