Green sounds alarm over RFK Jr.’s stance on vaccines

WASHINGTON, D.C. — Even as Robert F. Kennedy Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, returned to Capitol Hill on Wednesday to meet with top Senate committee leaders, Hawaii’s Democratic governor came to Capitol Hill to urge the Senate to reject his nomination.

During Wednesday’s Capitol Hill visit, Kennedy met with Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Chair Bill Cassidy, R-La., as well as ranking member Bernie Sanders, I-Vt.

Cassidy, a gastroenterologist by training who has been noncommittal on Kennedy’s nomination, remained so after the meeting, writing in a post on X, formerly known as Twitter, that the two had a “frank” conversation. Cassidy on Fox News over the weekend said that Kennedy, a vaccine skeptic, is “wrong” on the issue.

“We spoke about vaccines at length,” he said in his post. “Looking forward to the hearings in HELP and Finance.”

Elsewhere on Capitol Hill, Hawaii Gov. Josh Green on Wednesday recalled his experiences during the 2019 outbreak of measles in Samoa. The outbreak occurred several months after Kennedy visited Samoa with his wife, actress Cheryl Hines, and cast doubt on the country’s measles vaccination program.

Green, an emergency room physician, visited Samoa during the 2019 outbreak to care for sick children and to vaccinate people against measles. He attended a news conference with a group of House Democrats on Wednesday and plans to meet with senators this week to discuss Kennedy’s nomination. He said he had scheduled or attended 10 Capitol Hill meetings as of Wednesday and hoped to meet with Cassidy.

Green said that even though Kennedy has said he doesn’t plan to take away vaccines, his rhetoric could effectively prevent large swaths of people from getting immunized.

“I will be available 24/7,” he said. “They (senators) can call my cellphone. I will come back and testify if it’s the pleasure of the Senate. They have to hear this. The president has to hear this.”

The vaccine skepticism in Samoa stemmed from an incident during which two children died because of a human error in how the vaccines were administered. Nurses vaccinating the children had mistakenly mixed the vaccine with expired muscle relaxant instead of water, leading to the deaths.

During his 2019 trip, Kennedy met with health officials and anti-vaccine influencers on the island.

Only about 31% of Samoans were vaccinated against measles at the time of the outbreak, according to the World Health Organization. The 2019 outbreak in Samoa resulted in 5,707 cases and 83 deaths from the disease, according to WHO estimates. In a 2021 blog post, Kennedy called the initial 2019 outbreak “mild” and suggested the deaths increased after the introduction of an Indian-manufactured vaccine.

Sitting for an interview for the 2023 documentary “Shot in the Arm,” Kennedy denied that he spoke with the Samoan prime minister to discourage people from taking the measles vaccine.

“I’m aware there was a measles outbreak, but I had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa,” he said.

Responding to some of the Democratic support for Kennedy’s “Make America Healthy Again” agenda, Green said Kennedy’s stance on vaccines should override his anti-corporate stance on Big Pharma and the food supply.

“I know there are friends and family saying, hey, maybe we’ll finally break through on Big Pharma and this and that,” Green said. “It won’t even matter if we have massive outbreaks of measles, mumps, rubella, polio and meningitis.”

Rep. Kim Schrier, D-Wash., a pediatrician who joined Green at a news conference on Kennedy along with other Democratic members who have worked as health care providers, said she “could not agree more” about the importance of diet and exercise. But she added that that shouldn’t take away from the importance of getting immunized.

“Sowing this doubt in the minds of parents and the citizens of this country should disqualify Robert Kennedy Jr. from this job,” she said.

The Trump transition team did not return a request for comment.

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