Article title: Deadly measles outbreak hits children in Samoa after anti-vaccine fears
Outlet and publication year: Washington Post, November 27, 2019
Author(s): Ben Guarino, Neena Satija, and Lena H. Sun
… Last year, two infants in Samoa died within hours of receiving the MMR vaccine. The country temporarily halted its vaccine program, but the vaccine did not cause the deaths. Two nurses improperly mixed the vaccines with a liquid muscle relaxant instead of water. The pair were sentenced to five years in prison for manslaughter.
In several Facebook posts in July and August 2018, Children’s Health Defense, the advocacy group that Kennedy founded, questioned the safety of the vaccines the infants received. The charity did not update the posts to explain the nurses’ error to its audience.
The dates of these social media posts await confirmation as these posts are no longer available.
However, the “vaccines” link provided by WaPo was retrievable via Wayback Machine [perma]. WaPo links to an August 5, 2019 CHD Facebook post. While their Facebook post questions the safety of the vaccines the infants received, the post also quotes and links to an August 2 2019 article by the Australian Broadcasting Corporation reporting the nurses’ error and their sentencing. Anyone viewing the post can read the full story provided by CHD or even by reading the subheading displayed on the post.
For more information and context
BK: Did RFK Jr cause a measles outbreak in Samoa?
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