WASHINGTON: US President Donald Trump on Monday linked autism to childhood vaccines and also to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science. In an extraordinary news conference at the White House, the Republican president delivered medical advice to pregnant women and parents of young children, repeatedly telling them not to use or administer the over-the-counter pain killer.
The advice from Trump, who has no medical training and also pointed out “I’m not a doctor,” goes against that of medical societies, which cite data from numerous studies showing acetaminophen plays a safe role in the well-being of pregnant women.
“I want to say it like it is, don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it,” Trump said. “Fight like hell not to take it. There may be a point where you have to, and that you’ll have to work out with yourself, so don’t take Tylenol.”
Standing next to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., a vaccine critic who has argued that no vaccine is safe, Trump called for a reexamination of a link between vaccines and autism, a theory that has been repeatedly debunked, and a series of changes not grounded in science.
