MISLEADING CLAIMS
PBS News
Paul Offit: Now, very quickly, within two weeks, it was realized what that mistake was [that caused the two infant deaths in Samoa in 2018 after administrating MMR vaccines]. It was a nursing error. But, nonetheless, RFK Jr. seized on that. He flooded Facebook with information that measles vaccine is killing children in Samoa. He went to Samoa. He met with anti-vaccine activists. He met with senior officials in Samoa and kept the drumbeat alive that measles vaccine was killing children in Samoa. As a consequence, vaccination rates fell from 70 percent to 30 percent. And between September and December of 2019, there was a massive measles epidemic. In this island nation of 200,000 people, there were 57,000 cases of measles and 83 deaths. Most of those deaths were in children less than four years of age. And Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had everything to do with that. And that shows you how disinformation can kill.
Notes
Offit says: “Now, very quickly, within two weeks, it was realized what that mistake was. It was a nursing error. But, nonetheless, RFK Jr. seized on that.”
The two infant deaths occurred on July 6, 2018. It wasn’t until June 6, 2019 — 11 months after the deaths — that the Samoan Director General of Health announced that a nursing error caused the deaths. Two days after the infant deaths, the Samoan government recalled the MMR vaccine, suspended the vaccine program, and called for a full investigation. A Commission of Inquiry (COI) was established to investigate the deaths. Nearly nine months later, the COI completed their investigation, delivering their final report to the Samoan government on March 29, 2019. On April 2, the Director of Health announced that the investigations showed no evidence that the MMR vaccine caused the deaths. The MMR vaccination program resumed on April 14, 2019. On June 6, the Director of Health announced that a nursing error caused the infant deaths.
Offit says: “As a consequence, vaccination rates fell from 70 percent to 30 percent.”
Annual MMR vaccine coverage fell to 31% in 2018 due to the suspension of the MMR vaccination program from July 9, 2018, to April 14, 2019. If RFK Jr was questioning vaccine safety related to the infant deaths on Facebook, it was after the program’s suspension. The level of distrust among parents about the MMR vaccine cannot be a factor in the 2018 decline in MMR vaccination rates because deciding whether to vaccinate their children was taken out of their hands. RFK Jr visited Samoa in June of 2019. Vaccination rates cannot fall in 2018 due to his 2019 visit.
Offit says: “In this island nation of 200,000 people, there were 57,000 cases of measles and 83 deaths.”
There were approximately 5,700 reported cases of measles, not 57,000.
Comments on Other Stories below:
- "RFK Jr.’s Family Doesn’t Want Him to Run. Even They May Not Know His Darkest Secrets." — The article quotes Offit in PBS (“Paul Offit, told PBS that ‘Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had everything to do with that. And that shows you how disinformation can kill.’”)
- "RFK Jr condemned as ‘clear and present danger’ after Trump nomination" -- The reporter, like Offit in PBS, claims there were 57,000 cases.
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