Latest Breaking News

In June 2019, American anti-vaccination activist Robert F. Kennedy Jr. visited Samoa to meet with local anti-vaccination activists including Taylor Winterstein and Edwin Tamanese, whom he called a "medical freedom hero". Kennedy also discussed vaccines with then-Prime Minister Tuilaʻepa Saʻilele Malielegaoi,[27][28] and campaigned against the vaccine on social media.[29][30]

The 2019 Samoa measles outbreak began in September 2019.[5] By 6 January 2020, over 5,700 cases of measles and 83 deaths had been reported, out of a population of 200,874,[4][6] an infection rate of over three per cent.[7] The cause of the outbreak was decreased vaccination rates among newborns, from 74% in 2017 to 31–34% in 2018. Nearby islands had rates near 99%.

After the outbreak started, anti-vaxxers, including Kennedy,[35] attributed the dozens of measles deaths to poverty and malnutrition or to the vaccine, but cited no evidence for these claims. Clinicians reported that Vitamin A deficiency or immunodeficiency did not appear to be a substantial contributing factor to the outbreak.[8]