Summary

Robert F. Kennedy Jr.'s claim that he “had nothing to do with people not vaccinating in Samoa” during the 2019 measles epidemic is not credible.

While a 2018 vaccine mishap and subsequent pause primarily caused low vaccination rates, Kennedy’s engagement with the Samoan government, his promotion of anti-vaccine influencers, and his amplification of misinformation contributed to vaccine hesitancy.

The epidemic caused 83 deaths, primarily among children, with a mortality rate over 1%.

Kennedy has since downplayed his role, despite evidence of his involvement in anti-vaccine advocacy.

  • floofloof
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    4 days ago

    Wouldn’t it be nice if he took the experience of not being proud and learned from it? Maybe even start to wonder whether his views might be wrong and stupid? But I guess he’ll just try again with the whole of the USA, and again deny responsibility for all the deaths everyone can see he’s about to cause.

    • ExtremeDullard@lemmy.sdf.org
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      3 days ago

      Wouldn’t it be nice if he took the experience of not being proud and learned from it?

      You misread the situation: just like the Nazis at the Nuremberg trial, he’s in fact very proud of what he did, but he knows everybody else frowns upon it, so he downplays his role in the matter.

    • CharlesDarwin@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      Par for the course for these dipshits. Donvict’s lack of useful action during Covid likely caused excess deaths in the hundreds of thousands.

    • Blackout@fedia.io
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      4 days ago

      “Insanity is doing the same thing over and over again and expecting different results.”

      • DigitalNirvana@lemm.ee
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        4 days ago

        Alas, in this case the suffering is the point. It’s working just fine for RFKjr, and his handlers. But they can’t ’let the cat out of the bag’ before they get to try this on a larger population. So for now they have to maintain ‘plausible deniability’. Most of their base has never heard of Samoa, or at most think it’s a kind of cookie.

    • givesomefucks@lemmy.world
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      4 days ago

      You’ve obviously not noticed what FDR’s RFK’s last name is…

      Generational wealth/power always results in asshats like this with more money than sense who’s always been told their right, had every failing blamed on someone else, and a never ending like of sycophants after their money.

      But they’re confident and that’s all it takes for stupid average people, because the idea of failing upwards is so far removed from their life they honestly just can’t wrap their heads around ho someone that rich could be atupid.