Tylenol, Vaccines, and Autism? Breaking Down Trump’s Claims

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For years, scientists have studied a possible link between pregnant mothers’ use of acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, and neurological conditions like autism and A.D.H.D. The findings are complex. Some studies suggest a link; others do not. None have found proof of a causal relationship.

Yet Trump spoke as if the connection were definitive. He instructed pregnant women to avoid the drug. “Don’t take Tylenol. Don’t take it. Fight like hell not to take it,” he said.

Much of what Trump said during his press conference was untrue. Here’s a fact-check.

Vaccines: The president said that the childhood immunization schedule “loads up” children with too many vaccines — as many as 80 different shots.

The truth: Children generally receive roughly 30 vaccine doses before the age of 18, according to the C.D.C.’s schedule. And there is no evidence for the idea that vaccines overwhelm their immune system or lead to conditions like autism.

Hepatitis B: Trump said the disease was sexually transmitted — and that children should not be vaccinated against it until they are 12.

The truth: The virus is transmitted sexually. But it can also spread through drops of blood on surfaces or skin, and it is highly transmissible during delivery, so doctors recommended the vaccine at birth.

Tylenol: Speaking about the risks for pregnant women, Trump said, “There is no downside to not taking it.”

The truth: Doctors already advise pregnant women to take Tylenol sparingly. But there are some important uses. A high fever, for example, can endanger both the mother and the baby.

Why now?

Research on acetaminophen use during pregnancy is not new, as my colleague Azeen Ghorayshi, a science reporter, recently explained. So why did the White House make this announcement now?

Last month, scholars published a review of 46 existing studies. Taken together, they suggest there is evidence for a connection between acetaminophen use during pregnancy and neurodevelopmental disorders.

Those findings circulated widely on social media, including among autism parent groups, many of whom Kennedy considered a champion of their cause.

But the researchers cautioned people about inferring too much: “We cannot answer the question about causation,” Diddier Prada, an epidemiologist at Mt. Sinai’s medical school and the first author on the review, told The Times.

Most doctors believe autism cannot be easily attributed to a single cause; rather, they say, it involves a complex mix of genetic and environmental factors.

The F.D.A.’s notice to doctors yesterday about a possible link between acetaminophen and autism was far more measured than Trump’s riff. It noted, accurately, that “a causal relationship has not been established” and that the matter was “an ongoing area of ​​scientific debate.”