WHO sees no autism links to Tylenol, vaccines

By Ag Afp
September 24, 2025
US President Donald Trump, with Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr Marty Makary, and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr., makes an announcement linking autism to childhood vaccines and to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 22, 2025.—Reuters
US President Donald Trump, with Administrator of the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services Mehmet Oz, US National Institutes of Health (NIH) Director Jay Bhattacharya, US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) Commissioner Dr Marty Makary, and US Secretary of Health and Human Services Robert F Kennedy Jr., makes an announcement linking autism to childhood vaccines and to the use of popular pain medication Tylenol for pregnant women and children, claims which are not backed by decades of science, at the White House in Washington, DC, US, September 22, 2025.—Reuters 

GENEVA: Neither the painkiller Tylenol nor vaccines have been shown to cause autism, the World Health Organisation said on Tuesday, following comments from the US president and his administration to the contrary.

President Donald Trump insisted on Monday that pregnant women should “tough it out” and avoid Tylenol due to an unproven link to autism and also urged major changes to the standard vaccines administered to babies.

Medical groups have long cited acetaminophen, or paracetamol -- the primary ingredient in Tylenol -- as among the safest painkillers to take during pregnancy.

WHO spokesman Tarik Jasarevic acknowledged that there had been some “observational studies that have suggested a possible association between prenatal exposure to acetaminophen or paracetamol and autism”.