What was supposed to be a carefully worded health advisory turned into prime-time whiplash. At a televised news conference Monday night, President Donald Trump repeatedly linked autism to Tylenol (acetaminophen) use in pregnancy and to childhood vaccines — sweeping claims that outpaced what his own health officials were prepared to say and that clash with decades of research.
“I’ve been waiting for this meeting for 20 years,” Trump said, before urging pregnant women to “tough it out” instead of taking acetaminophen, and reviving long-debunked doubts about routine childhood immunizations. Moments later he added, “I’m not a doctor… but I’m giving my opinion.”
Senior health aides had spent days preparing a nuanced advisory: a preliminary, “possible association” between frequent acetaminophen use in pregnancy and higher autism rates in some observational studies; a $50 million research push; and a reminder that acetaminophen remains the only OTC fever reducer considered safe in pregnancy. Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. even acknowledged “contrary studies that show no association.”
Trump bulldozed the caveats. He called Tylenol essentially off-limits (“With Tylenol, don’t take it. Don’t take it”), and broadened the message into vaccine skepticism, repeating an anecdote about a child “lost” to autism after a post-shot fever — a link extensive research has failed to show.
Inside the administration, officials privately conceded the president’s blanket assertions leapt from “possible association” to causation, well beyond the evidence they’d briefed him on.
What the science actually says
- Acetaminophen in pregnancy: Some observational studies have reported correlations with neurodevelopmental outcomes, but correlation isn’t causation. A large 2024 Swedish cohort (>2 million children) found no connection between prenatal acetaminophen use and autism. Leading OB groups, including ACOG, continue to advise judicious, as-needed use in consultation with a clinician.
- Vaccines and autism: The link has been studied exhaustively across populations, schedules, and ingredients; no causal relationship has been established.
Why caution matters: Untreated fever in pregnancy carries risks (including neural tube defects and preterm birth).
“To tell women that the one option they had available… shouldn’t be available could be very problematic,” said Joshua Anbar of Arizona State University.
Ashish Jha, dean of Brown’s School of Public Health, was blunter:
“Possibly the worst public health press conference I have ever seen.”
Trump has aired theories about autism since the 2000s, hosted fundraisers for Autism Speaks, and has often mused about vaccines. Aides in his first term tried to steer him away from the topic; this time, with Kennedy at HHS and a new autism initiative in motion, Trump pushed to go public early. Health officials had wanted a stepwise rollout: literature review this month, working groups, then new studies next year. Instead, the president declared, “The way I look at it, don’t take it.”
Kennedy and other officials tried to preserve the nuance: use acetaminophen sparingly; acknowledge mixed literature; keep studying. An opinion piece by NIH Director Jay Bhattacharya, FDA Commissioner Marty Makary, and CMS Administrator Mehmet Oz echoed that posture — association ≠ causation, and acetaminophen remains the recommended fever treatment in pregnancy under OB care.
Trump also said kids get “too many shots too quickly,” praising the idea of spacing out vaccines and even separating combined shots. His Health Secretary’s advisory panels — heavy on vaccine skeptics — have floated changes to the childhood schedule and preservatives, despite CDC findings that do not support autism links.
That puts the White House message at odds with most major medical groups and even parts of its own political strategy, which had aimed to sidestep vaccine fights heading into the midterms.
Why doctors are alarmed
- Mixed evidence miscast as certainty confuses patients and fuels guilt and fear.
- Pregnant patients told to “tough it out” may avoid treating fever or pain, risking harm to themselves and their fetuses.
“It’s not just about who can tolerate pain,” said Veronica Gillispie-Bell of ACOG. “Not treating fever can be dangerous.”
- Vaccine doubt erodes herd immunity, inviting outbreaks of preventable disease.
What this means for patients right now
- If you’re pregnant: Don’t self-diagnose off cable news. Talk to your OB. Current guidance supports acetaminophen as first-line for fever and pain when needed, at the lowest effective dose, for the shortest time. Untreated fever is not benign.
- For kids’ shots: Stick with the recommended schedule unless your pediatrician advises otherwise. There’s no credible evidence that routine vaccines cause autism.
Allies say Trump is “sick of waiting for a solution” as autism diagnoses rise — a trend many scientists attribute to broader screening and evolving criteria, alongside complex genetic and environmental factors. Health officials insist the science work continues: a literature review, new studies, and measured guidance. Politically, though, Monday night thrilled parts of the vaccine-skeptic base. As one booster put it, Trump delivered a “full-throated embrace of the autism crisis.”
The trouble with full throats is that they can drown out quiet facts. For worried parents and pregnant patients, the safest course hasn’t changed: follow evidence-based care, not viral clips.
The New York Times, CNN, Axios, and Politico contributed to this report.
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