During his confirmation hearing, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. denied Gov. Josh Green’s allegation that he caused many deaths in Samoa by discouraging the measles vaccine.

In 2019, a devastating measles outbreak erupted in Samoa. Eighty-three people, most of them children, died. Another 5,000 contracted the disease, many of which suffer long-term damage as a result. In total, around 3% of the small island’s population fell ill.

Gov. Josh Green battled a measles outbreak that killed 83 people, mostly children. President Trump wants Robert F. Kennedy, Jr., a vaccine skeptic, as his health policy chief.