In 2018, improperly prepared vaccines — after nurses mixed doses with muscle relaxants instead of water — led to the deaths of two Samoan children. The incident sparked widespread mistrust in the vaccine program, including from Samoa’s prime minister, who suspended MMR immunizations altogether.

Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pushed back on Democrats’ allegations that he contributed to a measles outbreak in Samoa, saying vaccination rates were already low when he visited in 2019. “I went there nothing to do with vaccines,