As RFK Jr. faces U.S. Senate, questions linger about a measles outbreak in Samoa, half a world away

As U.S. senators grill Robert F. Kennedy Jr. this week, President Trump's pick to run the Department of Health and Human Services is expected to face sharp questions about his actions in an island nation half a world away. 

Kennedy's 2019 visit to Samoa has recently brought fresh attention to his history of activism focused on raising questions about the safety and effectiveness of the measles vaccine — because his trip came just months before a devastating measles outbreak that claimed 83 lives, many of them young children. 

"It was very sad," Dr. Take Naseri, Samoa's health chief at the time, told CBS News. "It's one of those things you don't want to revisit."