Donald Trump. Photo credit: Angela Weiss / AFP / Profimedia
US President Donald Trump repeated his appeal to pregnant women and children not to use the popular analgesic drug Tylenol on Friday, thus defying the criticisms of medical associations, and has provided additional health tips that are not supported by scientific evidence.
On Monday, in an extraordinary press conference at the White House, Donald Trump associated autism with vaccines administered to children and the consumption of Tylenol by pregnant women, bringing to the forefront of the United States health policy statements that are not supported by scientific evidence.
Video Donald Trump indicates an analgesic widely used as a cause of autism: “Do not take paracetamol if you are pregnant. Do not give children”
“I did not find any proof that it causes autism in children.” Paracetamol can be used safely during pregnancy – an important announcement of an institution in Europe / first reaction in Romania
In a message distributed on Friday on his social network TRUTH Social, Trump again asked for the combined vaccine against measles, mumps and rubella (ROR) to be divided into separate doses and that children do not receive the vaccine against hepatitis B-which is normally administered in the first 24 hours after the age of 12 years-before the age of birth.
“Pregnant women, do not use Tylenol unless it is absolutely necessary, do not administer your children of young agenol for any reason, divide the ROR vaccine into three totally separate doses (not mixed!), Make the vaccine against the varicella separately, make the vaccine against hepatitis B after the age of 12 years, The Republican President in that message, written in capital letters.
Health experts vehemently contradict him
Donald Trump's advice contradicts the recommendations made by medical associations, which cites data from numerous studies and decades of medical practice, which shows that acetaminofen (Paracetamol), the active ingredient in Tylenol, is safe when used under medical supervision during pregnancy. Dozens of medical, research and support of people with autism have condemned this announcement of the US president.
Requesting several doctor visits is a useless inconvenience, which will probably reduce vaccination rates and will be an access barrier to many people, health experts said.
The message on Friday and the announcement on Monday remind of the press conferences regularly held by Donald Trump in the first months of the Covid-19 Pandemic, when the US president frequently offered scientifically unfounded advice, including when he publicly wondered if the bleaching of bleach could be effective against the new Coronavirus Covid-19.
Although he did not mention autism in his Friday's message, Donald Trump's medical advice comes in the context in which his team from the Public Health Department has tried this week to temper the initial message of Monday, which binds autism acetaminophen.
The director of the National Institute of Health, in its media appearances, and the Commissioner of the Agency for Food and Medicines (FDA), in a written notification addressed to the doctors, said that there is an association, not a proven connection, and that women should consult with their doctors.
Paracetamol, pregnancy and autism: What does science tell us
