They’re distinguished speaking factors for Well being Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. and his prime officers: Taking Tylenol whereas pregnant could possibly be linked to autism. Antidepressants could also be dangerous throughout being pregnant. Aluminum salts in vaccines would possibly pose a well being danger. And Covid photographs don’t profit wholesome youngsters.
The remarks have sowed confusion over the previous 12 months, as scientists warn there isn’t proof to again them up. Nonetheless, federal well being businesses have pursued insurance policies primarily based on the assertions.
Now, a spate of recent analysis launched in the previous couple of months provides a number of the strongest rebuttals thus far.
The most recent discovering got here this month: After Meals and Drug Administration officers questioned the security of taking antidepressants whereas pregnant, new analysis introduced at an annual assembly of the Society for Maternal-Fetal Drugs discovered that pregnant sufferers who discontinued the medicines practically doubled their danger of psychological health-related emergency room visits.
Different latest research have additionally discovered that aluminum salts in vaccines aren’t linked to main security issues and that Covid photographs have a protecting profit for kids.
Some papers had been initiated in response to statements from Kennedy and the White Home, whereas others had already been underway.
“These are simply the newest examples in a document that stretches again a decade of Secretary Kennedy making claims about vaccines which can be contradicted by info and information,” Michael Osterholm, govt director of the College of Minnesota’s Vaccine Integrity Mission, mentioned in an announcement. The undertaking was began after Kennedy’s affirmation to create an unbiased, clear course of for evaluating vaccine security, he mentioned.
Emily Hilliard, a spokesperson for the Well being and Human Providers Division, mentioned in an announcement that “HHS stays centered on rigorous scientific evaluation, transparency, and making certain the continued security and effectiveness of the U.S. vaccine provide.”
The Trump administration has pledged to conduct its personal “gold customary” research of vaccine security and the causes of autism, amongst different subjects of curiosity to Kennedy. However these research haven’t but come — and lots of public well being consultants query whether or not they are going to be freed from bias once they do. (Many years of research have debunked the hyperlink between vaccines and autism.)
Already, a number of the administration’s high-profile claims about medication and vaccines have grow to be the official stances of federal well being businesses: The Facilities for Illness Management and Prevention stopped recommending Covid photographs for wholesome kids final 12 months, and in September, with Kennedy standing behind him, President Donald Trump informed pregnant girls to “struggle like hell” to not take Tylenol.
What’s protected to take whereas pregnant?
Previously 12 months, a number of prime well being officers have warned of potential harms from taking Tylenol and antidepressants whereas pregnant. However the newest proof launched since January doesn’t substantiate these issues.
The FDA convened a panel in July during which practically all of the panelists raised issues about pregnant girls taking selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors — a category of antidepressants that features Lexapro, Prozac and Zoloft. The stance went in opposition to the American School of Obstetricians and Gynecologists’ advice that pregnant sufferers keep on the medicines. Psychiatrists broadly criticized the occasion.
The FDA commissioner, Dr. Marty Makary, mentioned in the course of the panel that SSRIs might result in delivery defects and questioned their effectiveness, claiming that “the extra antidepressants we prescribe, the extra melancholy there may be.” Some panelists additionally known as for stronger warnings on SSRI drug labels.
Hilliard informed NBC Information that “the FDA will totally evaluation the info and replace merchandise labels as applicable” if high-quality analysis exhibits security issues past what’s talked about on the labels.
SSRI labels at the moment confer with a possible elevated danger of extreme bleeding generally known as postpartum hemorrhage within the mom or a life-threatening respiration concern known as persistent pulmonary hypertension within the new child. Nevertheless, proof means that these dangers are minimal, particularly when they’re in contrast with the dangers of melancholy itself.
“Generally, we don’t consider it as being so dangerous that we’d ever advocate a affected person cease their medicine due to it,” mentioned Dr. Kelly Zafman, a maternal-fetal medication fellow on the Hospital of the College of Pennsylvania.
By itself, untreated melancholy can elevate the danger of preterm delivery and preeclampsia. Scientists additionally haven’t discovered sturdy proof that SSRIs are linked to autism or delivery defects.
Zafman introduced contemporary analysis this month that analyzed medical health insurance claims of practically 4,000 sufferers with melancholy or anxiousness who took antidepressants earlier than their pregnancies. Amongst girls who discontinued the antidepressants in being pregnant, 1,357 had psychological health-related ER visits, in contrast with 795 who stayed on their prescriptions.
Zafman mentioned a number of the ER visits could possibly be associated to overdoses, suicide makes an attempt or debilitating insomnia, although the insurance coverage information didn’t specify the kind of psychological well being emergency. Lots of these points could be life-threatening to a fetus.
A extra widespread drug typically taken throughout being pregnant, Tylenol, additionally doesn’t deliver the risks that Trump and Kennedy have described.
The 2 warned in September a few potential hyperlink between Tylenol in being pregnant and autism in kids. Makary additionally informed physicians in a written discover to “think about minimizing using acetaminophen,” the lively ingredient in Tylenol.
Hilliard, the HHS spokesperson, mentioned many consultants have expressed concern about utilizing acetaminophen throughout being pregnant. Nevertheless, sturdy scientific proof doesn’t assist the declare. Kenvue, the maker of Tylenol, has mentioned analysis exhibits acetaminophen doesn’t trigger autism, and it has urged U.S. regulators to not put an autism warning label on the medicine.
A bunch of researchers tried to clear up the confusion final month by publishing some of the thorough analyses on the topic. The group excluded research with proof of bias, reminiscent of people who didn’t observe examine members for very lengthy or disclose pregnant girls’s well being histories. They discovered no hyperlink between using acetaminophen in being pregnant and neurodevelopmental problems, together with autism.
“We all know autism is that this advanced interaction between lots of of genes and environmental components early on in being pregnant,” mentioned Dr. Peter Hotez, dean of the Nationwide College of Tropical Drugs at Baylor School of Drugs in Texas and a co-director of the Texas Kids’s Hospital Middle for Vaccine Improvement.
Sure chemical exposures early in being pregnant can work together with autism genes, Hotez mentioned, however Kennedy “has little interest in really evaluating these.”
Vaccines: Supposed dangers and demonstrated advantages
In September, the CDC formally modified its Covid vaccine steering to advocate that folks resolve with their medical doctors whether or not to get the photographs. Months earlier, Kennedy, Makary and Dr. Jay Bhattacharya, director of the Nationwide Institutes of Well being, mentioned the company would not advocate Covid photographs for wholesome kids and pregnant girls.
In a video on X asserting the change, the officers claimed there was no proof to assist giving kids Covid boosters. The FDA’s prime vaccine regulator, Dr. Vinay Prasad, additionally informed employees members in a memo final fall that Covid photographs killed no less than 10 kids — however didn’t present proof, reminiscent of documentation of the deaths, to assist the declare.
The CDC’s personal analysis has persistently discovered that Covid vaccines and booster photographs shield in opposition to extreme sickness in kids. Most lately, a CDC examine in December discovered that the Covid vaccines given from 2024 to 2025 diminished the danger of Covid-related emergency room and pressing care visits by 76% amongst kids ages 9 months to 4 years and by 56% amongst kids ages 5 to 17.
Kennedy, who has a historical past of anti-vaccine activism, referred to the Covid vaccine in 2021 as “the deadliest vaccine ever made.” In June, he fired the earlier members of the CDC’s vaccine advisory panel and changed them with a gaggle largely skeptical of Covid photographs.
Underneath his management, HHS is investigating whether or not aluminum salts in vaccines could possibly be linked to autism, in line with an announcement posted on the CDC web site in November. Trump mentioned at a information briefing final 12 months that aluminum was being “taken out of the vaccines,” including: “Who the hell desires that pumped right into a physique?”
Aluminum salts — that are naturally current in soil and water — are added to vaccines to spice up the physique’s immune response, permitting a smaller dose for use. Practically a century of proof has discovered them to be protected for that goal. Many childhood vaccines within the U.S. comprise aluminum salts, together with these for hepatitis A and B, HPV, meningitis and whooping cough.
Nevertheless, aluminum salts have been a goal of many anti-vaccine activists. Kennedy informed meals blogger Mikhaila Peterson in 2021 that the brains of youngsters with autism had been “loaded with aluminum.”
A December evaluation within the journal Pediatrics reviewed the prevailing proof in mild of mounting vaccine hesitancy. The researchers didn’t detect any main security issues linked to aluminum salts in vaccines.
“That is type of Kennedy’s playbook. He’s by no means adopted the science,” Hotez mentioned. “You possibly can throw all of the proof you need at him and he’s oblivious to it. It’s all about him cherry-picking no matter he thinks helps his agenda.”
