On October 18, 2019, just 17 days after UNICEF delivers batches of measles vaccines to Samoa, a measles outbreak is declared, followed shortly after in Tonga and Fiji (were vaccines were also delivered) – but only Samoa made headlines. On November 15, 2019 a State of emergency declared in Samoa after 1000 cases and 15 deaths (of which 14 were children under five), in populations where measles coverage was 100% in 2013 and “enough of the Samoan population had been vaccinated by 2019 that they should have been “protected” from a fatal measles outbreak.” [1, 2]
It was reported that “basic medical care, including Vitamin A, Vitamin C and other supportive measures, was denied to the children of Samoa” and as a consequence many died! This created the justification for the red-flag flying, door-to-door compulsory mass vaccination campaign which started December 5, 2019, followed by school closures and bans on gatherings!
Strangely the genomic sequence for this Samoan measles strain does not appear in Genbank, which makes one ask why, what are they hiding, and wa it a novel strain, considering it’s “unusually virulent” nature? [1]
Two other facts to consider: Ralph Baric would have been working on a chimeric measles-COVID-19 product around Dec 2019 to get preprint published July 2020, and the first wave of COVID-19 reported in Samoa November 2020 was mild. Did the population of Samoa have prior immunity from Nov-Dec 2019?