“As Kennedy pushed his anti-vaccination campaign — which Green has referred to as disinformation — the inoculation rate plummeted to 31% and the measles virus spread. Samoan leaders asked the Hawaii governor for help, so he went to their island with dozens of health care providers to help vaccinate as many people as possible. By this time, there were approximately 5,000 confirmed cases of measles, Green said, and the outbreak would lead to more than 80 deaths, most of them among children.
“This is no joke when you see pictures of a child with measles, when there are no hospitals around, when there are no ventilators to keep them alive,” said the Hawaii governor. “We witnessed a child literally dying in front of us, just moments as we came into the village. ... She was still warm when I put my hands on her face.”