In a perfect world, there would be no mistakes. But the world is not perfect, and mistakes – sometimes deadly – happen.

In mid-2018, two nurses in the island country of Samoa accidently reconstituted the measles vaccine with a muscle relaxant instead of water. Two infants died.

The Samoan government paused vaccinations to investigate the deaths. Within weeks, the error was discovered. But in a country with a measles vaccination rate already lower than recommended for herd immunity, parental fear spells disaster. 

That sound you hear? 

That’s the anti-vaccine cavalry riding in, led by Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., President-elect Donald Trump’s nominee to be the Secretary of Health and Human Services. 

In 2019, RFK Jr. arrived in Samoa with his anti-vaccine message, embracing local anti-vaccine proponents. Months of parental fears stoked by RFK’s antivaccine message led to disaster: vaccination rates plummeted.

Three months after RFK’s visit, Samoa experienced a devastating measles outbreak. The government took action – mandating shutdowns and vaccinations. 

In 2019, there were almost 3,000 measles cases reported in Samoa. Thirty-nine people died, thirty-five of them children. 

RFK Jr. never updated his antivax website, Children’s Health Defense, regarding the cause of the original deaths. RFK Jr. denies his influence on the deadly outbreak.

RFK Jr. sometimes tries to back away from his antivax hot takes, like when he said Ann Frank had more freedom than people under vaccine mandates. Still, in a CNN interview just a year ago, RFK Jr. bragged about telling random parents with a baby “better not get him vaccinated,” in order to “save” the child. 

RFK Jr. has a long history of promoting health-related conspiracies:

HIV doesn’t cause AIDS. MMR vaccine causes autism. Chemtrails. Drinking raw milk is harmless. Chemicals in water are causing kids to be trans. COVID-19 was ethnically targeted to avoid infecting Jewish and Chinese people. 5G high speed internet harvests our data and controls our behavior. Fluoride in the water supply is harmful.

RFK Jr. is not a doctor or any type of healthcare professional, an epidemiologist, or a public health policy expert. 

I don’t know if RFK Jr. will be confirmed to lead Health and Human Services, but I DO know this: 

He was the number one choice of the president-elect.

First in line.

Only the best people, he promised. Only the best.