President Donald Trump on Friday continued his war on the painkiller Tylenol, while offering some unsolicited, all-caps medical advice in a Truth Social rant addressed to “Pregnant Women.”
“DON’T USE TYLENOL UNLESS ABSOLUTELY NECESSARY,” he warned. “DON’T GIVE TYLENOL TO YOUR YOUNG CHILD FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON.”
Trump this week urged pregnant women to avoid Tylenol, claiming a link to autism. According to the American Academy of Pediatrics, or AAP, and the American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists, it is safe to use acetaminophen occasionally “as directed for fever and pain relief during pregnancy,” and patients should talk with their obstetrician about pain relief—as all medications—during pregnancy.
As for the claim that children should not take Tylenol “FOR VIRTUALLY ANY REASON,” the AAP says that “decades of research” show the medication to be “safe for children when taken, or dosed, correctly and under the guidance of a child’s pediatrician.”
The president also gave his two cents on vaccines: “BREAK UP THE MMR SHOT INTO THREE TOTALLY SEPARATE SHOTS (NOT MIXED!)” FactCheck.org notes that there’s no evidence that the combined measles, mumps, and rubella vaccination is “less safe.” Further, the president’s suggestion is a moot point, given the vaccines are not available separately in the United States.
“TAKE CHICKEN P SHOT SEPARATELY,” Trump added. While Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr.’s handpicked Centers for Disease Control advisory panel on immunization recently voted that children under four years of age should separate the varicella (chickenpox) and MMR vaccinations, the AAP broke from that conclusion and still recommends that “families have the option” of a combined MMRV vaccine.
“TAKE HEPATITAS B SHOT AT 12 YEARS OLD, OR OLDER,” the president went on, misspelling hepatitis.
Trump recently questioned the practice of giving newborns hepatitis B vaccines because the disease is “sexually transmitted.” In reality, newborns can acquire hepatitis B during birth if the mother has it. Giving a birth dose “is critical to reduce chronic hepatitis B later in life,” notes the AAP, and eliminating it would “lead to more cases of perinatally acquired hepatitis B and hepatitis B infections throughout childhood.”
“AND, IMPORTANTLY,” added Trump, “TAKE VACCINE IN 5 SEPARATE MEDICAL VISITS!” According to the CDC, “Many vaccines are recommended early in life to protect young children from dangerous infectious diseases. Different childhood vaccines can be given at the same time.”
The post Trump Goes on Crazed Rant About Tylenol, Kids, and “Chicken P” appeared first on New Republic.
