Trump Repeats False Claims Linking Tylenol and Vaccines to Autism Despite Lack of Evidence

[Thiệu Ngô]

Trump offers new warning on Tylenol for pregnant women

By Elvia Limon

President Trump on Sunday once again urged pregnant women not to take Tylenol unless “absolutely necessary,” to avoid giving the over-the-counter drug to children “for virtually any reason” and to break up certain vaccine dosages.

Trump’s renewed call comes a month after he and top health officials said pregnant women should not take acetaminophen — one of the most widely used medications in the world — for pain relief because of a potential risk of autism, despite no new evidence proving the drug directly causes it.

The advice was also notable because acetaminophen had been seen as the safest pain medication for pregnant women to take.

But Trump doubled down on his calls with the Sunday post.

“Pregnant Women, DON’T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY, DON’T GIVE TYLENOL TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON, BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED!), TAKE CHICKEN P SHOT SEPARATELY, TAKE HEPATITAS B SHOT AT 12 YEARS OLD, OR OLDER, AND, IMPORTANTLY, TAKE VACCINE IN 5 SEPARATE MEDICAL VISITS! President DJT,” Trump said in a post on Truth Social that linked to a Daily Caller article claiming the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) stayed silent about potential Tylenol risks.

The president also gave personal suggestions last month on when and how parents should have their children receive certain vaccines, offering advice he said was based on his own feelings.

Jim O’Neill, the acting director of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, has endorsed Trump’s call to split the measles, mumps and rubella (MMR) vaccine, despite no research supporting the change.

Both the World Health Organization and the European Union have refuted Trump’s assertion that acetaminophen may cause conditions like autism and ADHD when taken by pregnant women. The FDA acknowledged that “a causal relationship has not been established” in public statements following Trump’s initial plea.

Medical organizations have also backed acetaminophen as safe for pregnant women, including both the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists and the Society for Maternal-Fetal Medicine.

However, Trump and Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. said in September the FDA would begin updating the label on acetaminophen and notifying physicians that Tylenol “can be associated with a very increased risk of autism.”

Last week, Tylenol maker Kenvue called on the FDA to pull back on the proposed safety label change. The current label instructs people who are pregnant or breastfeeding to “ask a health professional before use.”

In response to a citizen petition filed last month, the company said the “expansive scientific evidence developed over many years” does not support a causal link between acetaminophen use in pregnancy and developmental disorders.

The citizen petition was filed by the Informed Consent Action Network, an anti-vaccine nonprofit with close ties to Kennedy.

“Acetaminophen is one of the most studied medicines in history, and scientific evidence regarding acetaminophen use in pregnancy and neurodevelopmental outcomes has been continuously evaluated by FDA and industry for more than a decade,” Kenvue said.

The company noted that adopting the change would be “arbitrary, capricious, and contrary to law.”

Kenvue said last week that it had met with Kennedy and other HHS staff in early September after he reached out to “express his view about an association between acetaminophen and autism.”

The company said it told Kennedy the science did not support a causal link for pregnant women, nor did it support an association between postnatal use of acetaminophen and autism and attention-deficit hyperactivity disorder.