President Trump on Monday gave personal suggestions on how and when parents should have children receive certain vaccines, offering advice that he said was based on his own feelings during a press event that claimed links between Tylenol, vaccinations and autism.
“We want no mercury in the vaccine. We want no aluminum in the vaccine. The MMR I think should be taken separately,” Trump said, referring to the vaccine for measles, mumps and rubella
“This is based on what I feel. The mumps, measles and — the three should be taken separately. And it seems to be that when you mix them, there could be a problem,” Trump said. “So there’s no downside in taking them separately. In fact, they think it’s better. So let it be separate.”
Trump’s comments came at a White House event where the president and top health officials said pregnant women should not take acetaminophen, the active ingredient in Tylenol, because of potential links to autism.
Trump also asserted that children should not receive the hepatitis B vaccine until they were 12 years old. He said the viral infection is sexually transmitted, but it can also be spread through used needles and open wounds.
“You know, I’m making these statements from me,” Trump said. “I’m not making them from them, these doctors.”
Asked if he felt it was appropriate for him to be telling the public what to do given it was based on his own feelings, Trump said it was “absolutely appropriate.”
These assertions come just days after the Advisory Committee on Immunization Practices (ACIP) discussed and voted on changes to childhood vaccination schedules. The panel voted to recommend separate MMR and varicella vaccines for children younger than 4 years old but decided to delay a vote on changing recommendations for hepatitis B vaccines.
“Hepatitis B is sexually transmitted. There’s no reason to give a baby almost just born hepatitis B [vaccine]. So, I would say wait till the baby is 12 years old and formed and take hepatitis B. And I think if you do those things, it’s going to be a whole different revolution in [a] positive sense,” Trump said.
Pregnant mothers who have hepatitis B can pass it to their children at birth, and infants who are infected at birth have a 90 percent chance of developing chronic hepatitis B. Roughly a quarter of these individuals will die from chronic liver disease.
Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has for decades promoted the theory that childhood vaccines have led to an increase in autism and chronic illnesses, despite studies that have repeatedly shown otherwise.
Trump has also at times questioned vaccines and drawn a connection between the shots and autism. He has also said he is in favor of vaccinations, particularly for polio.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynecologists said in a statement before the announcement that “acetaminophen remains a safe, trusted option for pain relief during pregnancy.”
“You have a little child, little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines I guess, 80 different blends, and they pump it in. So ideally, a woman won’t take Tylenol, and on the vaccines, it would be good instead of one visit where they put the baby, load it up with stuff, you’ll do it over a period of four times or five times.”
While railing against vaccine practices, Trump called himself a “big supporter of vaccines.”
“I got a certain vaccine approved in nine months that would’ve taken from five to 12 years. I’m very proud of it,” said Trump, referring to the COVID-19 vaccines. “A lot of people think it was one of the greatest things I’ve done and some people think, mostly Republicans actually … I will tell you the Democrats … they think Operation Warp Speed was the greatest thing a president has done.”
