Senate Democrats are investigating whether Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. lied during his confirmation hearing about the purpose of a 2019 trip to Samoa.
Sens. Ron Wyden of Oregon and Angela Alsobrooks of Maryland wrote to Children’s Health Defense this week demanding documents related to Mr. Kennedy’s travel to Samoa.
Mr. Kennedy told senators during his 2025 confirmation hearing that his trip to the country “had nothing to do with vaccines.” The two senators wrote to Children’s Health Defense, an organization he co-founded, that “it appears this statement was false.”
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Mr. Wyden will become chairman of the Finance Committee, which oversees the Health and Human Services Department, when his party takes over the majority in January.
His sights are set on Mr. Kennedy, with whom he has frequently clashed over vaccines and other health policies. Mr. Kennedy has raised questions about vaccine efficacy and safety.
Ms. Alsobrooks is in line to chair the Senate Health, Education, Pensions and Labor Committee, which also oversees the department.
The two senators cite a Jan. 20, 2019, letter to Samoa’s prime minister in which Mr. Kennedy proposed a team from Children’s Health Defense “conduct detailed health informatics assessment” following the deaths of two toddlers caused by faulty injections of the Measles, Mumps and Rubella, or MMR, vaccine.
Mr. Kennedy visited Samoa four months after sending the letter.
He was grilled about the trip during his confirmation hearing last year. Mr. Kennedy repeatedly denied his visit was related to vaccines.
The Washington Times reached out to HHS and the Children’s Health Defense.
Democrats have blamed Mr. Kennedy for increasing vaccine skepticism and hesitancy and blame him for contributing to the deaths of dozens of children in Samoa during a measles outbreak.
But Samoa suspended its MMR vaccine program before Mr. Kennedy’s 2019 visit. It halted the MMR vaccine program after two nurses accidentally mixed the vaccine with expired muscle relaxants, causing the two deaths. The nurses were convicted of manslaughter.
The suspension of the vaccine program lasted for 10 months and resumed after a measles outbreak in Samoa killed dozens of children.
Mr. Kennedy’s critics say he inflamed the vaccine hesitancy in Samoa.
“In Samoa and in the United States, unvaccinated children have died tragic and preventable deaths during measles outbreaks. We intend to hold Secretary Kennedy accountable for the grave harm he has caused to vulnerable children. We also intend to hold him accountable for any false statements made to Congress, a crime that undermines the Senate’s ability to fulfill its constitutional duties,” Mr. Wyden and Ms. Alsobrooks wrote to Children’s Health Defense General Counsel Kim Mack Rosenberg.
During his confirmation hearing, Mr. Kennedy said his trip to Samoa was focused on introducing a digitized health records system. He said he never made public statements about the MMR vaccine during the visit.
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