Why is the Samoan Measles narrative relevant today?
There was a supposed outbreak of measles in Samoa in September 2019.
The story provided to the World Press was that a child on holidays from New Zealand unknowingly had created an epidemic.
A ‘case’ of measles had been reported in the hospitals, which was taken to mean a spread had occurred.
This was reported to be “catastrophic” because there was a low uptake of vaccinations for Measles.
The uptake was hovering around 30% after the deaths of two babies after vaccination in 2018
Two nurses were charged with manslaughter for supposedly a mix-up in vaccine preparation.
The President had suspended the use of the vaccine for 10 months against the WHO recommendations.
The stage was set to play out a sequence for a Pandemic.
Media Hype created the fear.
Lockdowns created the political response.
Vaccines were touted as the solution.
But in reality there were about 5700 cases and 83 deaths.
The World was prepped and triggered into believing into the fear of contagion and the necessity of response.
Part of the response was the attack on those who questioned what was going on.
Edwin Tamasese, the chair of a coconut farmers’ collective, highlighted deaths in remote islands as occurring after the vaccine, thus challenging its effectiveness and safety .
The attack on Tamasese was part of an attempt to blame the death toll on mis-information from so-called ‘anti-vaxxers’.
Questions were then raised about the quality of the Indian vaccine.
At no time was RFK Jnr involved in these events.
The sequence of events coincidentally paralleled what ultimately occurred during COVID.
Conspiracy Theorists claim that the Samoan Measles ‘Outbreak’ was a trial run for all the COVID measures implemented on us only moths later.
Here is a collation of reports below from the most recent back to the early history:
23 January, 2025 – Former VP Mike Pence moves against RFK Jnr on behalf of big pharma, without a moral leg to stand on
Advancing American Freedom, an advocacy group founded by former Vice President Mike Pence, launched an advertising campaign on Wednesday to oppose President Donald Trump’s nomination of Robert F. Kennedy Jr. to lead the Department of Health and Human Services, according to The Hill outlet.
The advertisements reportedly highlight Kennedy’s previous statements supporting access to abortion, information he disseminated about vaccines during a measles outbreak in American Samoa, and allegations that vaccines cause higher rates of autism in children.
Yet, according to the BBC, “Samoa’s low vaccination rates are in part due to the deaths in 2018 of two children given a wrongly-mixed vaccine.”
“In July 2018, two infants died in Samoa after receiving vaccinations against measles, mumps and rubella, raising local fears over the vaccine itself,” the outlet continued.”
Former Vice President Mike Pence sporting a masonic, Blue State tie, with Trump in happier days
11 January – The perils of RFK Junior’s anti-vaccine leadership for public health
With global measles cases surging more than 20% in a year, the spectre of an anti-vaccine leader like Robert F Kennedy Junior at the helm of US health policy has alarmed public health experts. Kennedy, a well-known vaccine sceptic, has long promoted dangerous misconceptions about vaccines, and his influence could worsen an already dire situation.
WHO reported that measles cases increased globally from 8·6 million in 2022 to 10·3 million in 2023.1 Tragically, most of these infections occurred in low-income, conflict-ridden regions, where vulnerable populations are already struggling with inadequate access to health care. Even worse, the growing vaccine hesitancy spurred by pandemic-era disruptions has contributed to these rising numbers,2 making a future under Kennedy’s leadership potentially catastrophic.
A stark example of the devastating impact of vaccine misinformation is Samoa’s 2019 measles outbreak.3 In this island nation of 200 000, more than 5700 people were infected and 83 people died, most of whom were young children. Samoa’s Ministry of Health cited Kennedy’s visit and his rhetoric as exacerbating vaccine hesitancy at a crucial moment.4 Kennedy’s non-profit, Children’s Health Defense, contributed to this atmosphere of mistrust just months before the outbreak.4 Samoa’s experience underscores how even one prominent anti-vaccine figure can ignite a public health crisis.
5 January, 2025 – Fact-checking Mainstream Media: Did RFK Jr. Cause Measles Outbreak in Samoa That Killed 83 Children?
Some media reports suggested that if Kennedy wins the appointment for HHS secretary, outbreaks like the one in Samoa will likely occur in the U.S.
“It was a disaster and it was caused in large part by RFK Jr.,” Hawaii Gov. Josh Green told MSNBC news anchor Jonathan Capehart. “If he becomes our lead health official, you are going to see outbreaks like this in rural communities and cities across America. Children will die or have severe disabilities.”
However, a brief look into the timeline alone of events in Samoa shows that it “absolutely does not make sense” to blame the measles outbreak on Kennedy, according to Dr. Vinay Prasad, a hematologist-oncologist and professor at the University of California, San Francisco.
23 December, 2019 – Samoa Measles Emergency Extended
The MMR vaccine used in Samoa is produced by the Serum Institute of India. It has been approved and certified by the World Health Organization (WHO). It is an attenuated (weakened) live virus vaccine that is sold under the brand name Tresivac.8 9 10 11
Tresivac is contraindicated for people who are allergic to eggs, gelatin and neomycin or who have had a previous life-threatening reaction to any vaccine containing measles, mumps or rubella viruses. The Serum Institute’s MMR vaccine is also contraindicated for anyone who suffers from a chronic illness such as asthma or other breathing disorder, diabetes, kidney disease, or blood cell disorders such as anemia; or from severe immune suppression caused by disease (such as cancer, HIV, or AIDS), or who is receiving certain medicines such as steroids, chemotherapy or radiation. It is also contraindicated for pregnant women.12
According to the Serum Institute, there may be a problem with giving Tresivac to people with the following conditions: thrombocytopenia purpura (easy bruising or bleeding); active tuberculosis infection; a history of seizures; a neurologic disorder or disease affecting the brain (or if this was a reaction to a previous vaccine); and a weak immune system caused by disease, bone marrow transplant, or by using certain medicines or receiving cancer treatments. The vaccine might also cause problems for anyone who has received an immune globulin or other blood product within the past year or who has received a previous MMR vaccine within the previous 28 days.12
In October 2019, a one-year-old girl died two days after being administered Tresivac at a clinic in Cuba
15 December, 2019 – Measles in Samoa: Why are So Many Dying?
Samoa Vaccine Measles Deaths
In 2019, the leaders of Samoa closed its borders to travelers who did not have proof of vaccination records, including its own citizens. That hardline stance against measles means that for many American Baby Boomers who contracted measles as a child and have natural, true immunity and are either living in, or traveling to, Samoa must be given a jab against an infection their immune system had already conquered. The inoculation would not be solely for measles, but would also include a faulty attenuated mumps virus.
With more than fifty measles deaths claimed by the health experts in Samoa with the current outbreak, what is sadly no longer reported are the two deaths from MMR that rocked the Pacific Island nation in 2018. Two babies, less than two years of age, died shortly after receiving the MMR injection, causing an uproar. The Samoa prime minister “expressed his condolences” to the families and forced the country to temporarily pull the MMR vaccine from the market.
To the gasps of those who have had children injured by the MMR vaccine, Samoan authorities did not investigate what was wrong with the vaccine. Instead, authorities focused their probe on two nurses, charging them with two counts of manslaughter and declaring “nothing was wrong with the vaccine.” Month’s later, a still angry mother of one of the victims demanded “answers” for the death of her child. She clearly doesn’t believe the line of propaganda being sold to her as truth.
15 December, 2019 – Vitamin A Shipped to Samoa
Within Samoa, malnutrition is a “growing health concern, particularly for children.”15 Vitamin A treatment costs two or three pennies per dose9 and unlike vaccines, can be administered easily by parents or other providers because it does not require special training or refrigeration. While the vitamin A shipments by citizens to reduce complications in those with measles infections are disparaged in the press and social media, UNICEF has sent 30,000 vitamin A tablets along with 110,500 doses of measles containing vaccine to the island of Samoa.16
8 December, 2019 – Samoan Government Arrests “Anti-Vaxxer” as Measles Campaign Widens Dec. 5, 2019, the Samoan government reportedly arrested a “vocal antivaccination campaigner” and charged him with “incitement” as the government widens a mass measles vaccination campaign in the small South Pacific island nation of about 200,000 people. More than 4,300 measles cases with 63 deaths have been reported since the measles outbreak began in mid-October.1
1 Al Jazeera (English). Samoa arrests anti-vaxxer as immunization drive continues. MSN Dec. 5, 2019.
Wikipedia – 2019 Samoa measles outbreak
Edwin Tamasese, a Samoan anti-vaccination activist with no medical training who was also the chair of a coconut farmers’ collective,[8] was charged with “incitement against a government order”.[44]
He had posted online comments like “Enjoy your killing spree.”[8] He encouraged people to refuse immunisation, as he believed the vaccine caused measles,[45] and even discouraged life-saving antibiotics.[8] Tamasese faced up to two years in prison.[8]
9 July, 2018 – Two Infants in Samoa Die After Getting the MMR Vaccine
Samoan government health officials have issued a recall of the MMR (measles, mumps and rubella) vaccine after two infants, a girl and a boy, died on July 6, 2018 just hours after being given the combination vaccine at Safotu Hospital on the island of f Savai’i in Samoa. 1 2 3 4
Testing is underway by the Samoan Ministry of Health to determine if the vaccines caused the deaths of the babies. Local police are conducting a separate investigation into the two cases.1 2 3 4
“We’ve ceased and sent out a directive to stop and cease all vaccinations of the children with the MMR,”1 said Samoa’s Director General of Health Leausa Toleafoa Dr. Take Naseri.
12 July, 2018 – Samoa seizes all MMR vaccines after two infants die minutes after receiving the vaccine
TV1 in Samoa is reporting that two infants have died within minutes of receiving the measles, mumps, and rubella (MMR) vaccine.
Tala Fou brings you breaking news on the death of two young children both aged 1-year-old from the villages of Safotu and Sasina in Savaii. Both children died within minutes of being vaccinated with the MMR vacine at Safotu Hospital on Friday morning the 6th of July.
Our News Reporter Alisa Faamaoni met with both families in Savaii today. The parents of the first child Marietta and Samuelu Tuisuesue of Sasina explained in detail to Tala Fou that within three minutes of their 1-year-old daughter Lannacallystah Samuelu being injected with the MMR vaccine by a nurse she was dead. (Source.)
25 November, 2019 – Samoa’s Measles Outbreak and Response
Clearly, the nutritional status of a country matters when it comes to lowering mortality from measles. This has certainly been the case in the United States, where measles mortality rates in the U.S. dropped by more than 90 percent during the first half of the 20th century prior to the introduction of the first measles vaccine in 1963.19
Deaths from measles had decreased from 21 deaths per 1000 reported cases during 1911-1912 to less than one death per 1000 reported cases in 1953-1962. This improved measles morality rate was owed to several factors unrelated to the measles vaccine, including better sanitation and living conditions, as well as better nutrition and improved access to health care.19
19 Cáceres M. The Story of Measles’ Sharp Decline. The Vaccine Reaction Apr. 12, 2016.
12 April, 2016 – The Story of Measles’ Sharp Decline
In their book, Dissolving Illusions, Bystrianyk and Dr. Humphries noted that the incidence of measles was also on a downward trend—albeit a much slower rate than the decline in mortality—before the 1963 measles vaccine. 8 We know, for example, that in 1954 there were 682,720 reported cases of measles in the U.S.13 This was followed by 555,156 cases in 1955; 611,936 in 1956; 486,799 in 1957; 763,094 in 1958; 406,162 in 1959; 441,703 in 1960; 423,919 in 1961; 481,530 in 1962; and 385,156 in 1963.13
While the number of reported cases of measles went up and down from year to year, the overall trend
While the number of reported cases of measles went up and down from year to year, the overall trend line was downward. In fact, the trend line had been going down since 1941, when the number of reported cases totaled 894,134.13
Interestingly, in 1964 (the year after the introduction of the first killed measles vaccine), the number of reported cases of measles actually went up to 458,083.13
Bystrianyk and Dr. Humphries reasonably ask, “Was measles slowly becoming less prevalent anyway?”8
We know that measles can be sub-clinical 30 percent of the time, and the death rate had already plummeted. Like smallpox, was the disease slowly burning out? Was the rise in breastfeeding and improved nutrition contributing to fewer diagnosed cases? How many cases that were recorded as measles based on a clinical diagnosis really other viruses? Can we at all trust measles incidence statistics in the first place?8
If the trend continued as seen in the measles incidence graph, then measles incidence would have hit zero in the year 2000 without any vaccine program. Coincidentally, the year 2000 is the same year the CDC declared measles eliminated from the United States.8
