The Guardian

The immunisation rates of babies have plummeted in recent years. Four years ago, roughly 85% of one-year-olds were vaccinated, in 2017 that dropped to 60%.

But since then the rate plummeted sharply, after a scandal that rocked Samoa in 2018, when two Samoan nurses administered MMR vaccines to babies who subsequently died. The nurses pleaded guilty to negligence causing manslaughter and were sentenced to five years in prison after it emerged that one of the nurses mixed the MMR vaccine powder with expired muscle relaxant anaesthetic instead of water for injection.

People lost trust in the government and in immunisation programs, meaning that by 2018, only 31% of children under five had been vaccinated.

Notes

There is no mention here, nor anywhere in the article that the Samoan government suspended its vaccine program from July 2018 to April 2019. People didn’t necessarily lose trust in the government; the government lost trust in their vaccination program after those babies died.

Other Stories that do not mention the MMR vaccine program suspension anywhere in the article:

• Ars Technica, 2019: Measles outbreak spurred by anti-vaxxers shuts down Samoan government
• The Guardian, 2019: 'There are no words': Samoa buries its children as measles outbreak worsens
• BBC, 2019: How a wrong injection helped cause Samoa's measles epidemic
• New York Times, 2019: Samoa Closes Schools as Measles Epidemic Kills at Least 16
• New York Times, 2024: Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s Views on Vaccination ‘Dangerous,’ Says His Ambassador Cousin

For more information and context

• Did RFK Jr cause a measles outbreak in Samoa?