The investigative reporter will visit the School of Communications to discuss his Pulitzer Center–supported series examining how vaccine misinformation fueled a devastating measles outbreak that claimed dozens of young lives.
When misinformation goes viral, lives can hang in the balance. Investigative reporter Andy Pierrotti of Atlanta News First will visit Elon University on Wednesday, Oct. 22, to share the human stories behind his five-part Pulitzer Center–supported series “Tragedy in Paradise,” which explores how vaccine disinformation fueled Samoa’s 2019 measles outbreak. In total, the epidemic infected 5,700 people and claimed 83 lives, most of them children.
Pierrotti’s public talk, titled “Tragedy in Paradise: Disinformation and the Samoan Measles Outbreak,” will begin at 5 p.m. in the Jane and Brian Williams Studio in the McEwen Communications Building. His visit is sponsored by the Department of Journalism in partnership with the Pulitzer Center Campus Consortium.
A multiple Emmy and Edward R. Murrow Award–winning journalist, Pierrotti traveled to Samoa in 2025 to revisit the deadly outbreak – a story that regained national attention after Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s confirmation as U.S. Secretary of Health and Human Services renewed scrutiny of his 2019 visit to the island to meet with anti-vaccine activists.
With some states rethinking vaccine mandates and a recent stateside measles outbreak claiming three lives, Pierrotti’s series is timely and essential, explained Assistant Professor of Journalism Lorraine Ahearn.
“Andy is meticulous – and compassionate – in showing us how an outbreak of a completely preventable disease can spread, with tragic results,” said Ahearn, who serves as Elon’s liaison to the Pulitzer’s Campus Consortium network. “Of special relevance to students of health communications is how this series exposes the role of social media platforms in disseminating vaccine disinformation on the ground.”
At a time when truth is at a premium, Ahearn noted, journalism like Pierrotti’s is critical. “This series is a textbook case of why we need investigative reporters,” Ahearn said. “This is life and death.”
Following his reporting, Pierrotti said that revisiting Samoa offered a sobering reminder of the cost of misinformation.
“Interviewing parents who have lost children always weighs heavily on your heart. It can last for months,” he said. “Not only can you feel like you’re absorbing their trauma, but you feel guilty about asking a parent to relive the worst day of their lives. But these mothers wanted to share a message I thought the United States needed to hear. They wanted to explain that their decision to not vaccinate their family cost them their children’s lives. They did not want others to make the same mistake.”
Elon University has a longstanding relationship with the Pulitzer Center, serving as a partner in its Campus Consortium network, an educational initiative that brings Pulitzer Center staff and journalists to Elon’s campus twice a year. Ahearn serves as Elon’s consortium coordinator and helped organize Pierrotti’s visit, which included several classroom lectures.