World Health Organization (WHO) has responded to recent remarks by U.S. President Donald Trump, who suggested a possible link between paracetamol use during pregnancy and autism.
Speaking on Tuesday, WHO spokesperson Tarik Jasarevic addressed the claim, stating that while a few observational studies have raised questions, the overall scientific consensus remains inconclusive.
“If there were a strong connection, it would have been seen consistently across multiple studies,” Jasarevic said. He stressed that medications during pregnancy should always be used with caution and under medical supervision—especially during the first trimester.
Jasarevic also rejected longstanding conspiracy theories suggesting a link between childhood vaccines and autism. “WHO’s immunisation schedules are based on decades of evidence and have saved more than 150 million lives over the past 50 years,” he told journalists in Geneva.
In a related statement, Dr. Kate O’Brien, Director of WHO’s Department of Immunisation, Vaccines and Biologicals, warned that misinformation is threatening decades of progress in global public health.
“We are at a critical juncture. While best estimates conclude that vaccines have saved more than 150 million lives in the past 50 years, the potential for their impact for future decades is increasingly threatened by another type of contagion: misinformation,” O’Brien said.
“Both misinformation and disinformation travel faster and further than truth. And their potential consequences include reversals of hard-won gains in vaccine coverage and disease control,” she added.
O’Brien emphasized that vaccines remain one of the most powerful, cost-effective public health tools available.
“They save more than five lives every minute, protect against severe disease and disability, reduce the burden on health systems, protect families from sinking into extreme poverty, and contribute to economic growth,” she noted.
Highlighting global immunisation achievements, O’Brien said more than 18 million people who might have been paralyzed by polio can now walk, and over 90 million children who could have died from measles are alive today thanks to vaccines.
Additionally, more than a million cervical cancer deaths—both now and in the future—have already been prevented.
“Tens of millions more who would have suffered severe diseases—some with lifelong disabilities—from meningitis, pneumonia, whooping cough, congenital rubella, rotavirus diarrhea, diphtheria, tetanus, hepatitis B, and more, have never suffered those fates,” she said.
Despite this progress, O’Brien warned that vaccine misinformation is already causing tangible harm.
“The consequences of vaccine misinformation are not hypothetical—they are real and tragic. There have been recent cases of healthy children dying from measles or from its long-term complications,” she stated.
She added that childhood vaccination rates are falling in several countries where coverage had previously been high—including the U.S., Canada, the UK, and parts of Europe.
“National figures can mask the reality in certain communities, where vaccination rates are far below the 95% threshold needed for herd immunity,” O’Brien cautioned.
