Trump’s unproven paracetamol claims could impact Gwent’s health board

Unproven claims by United States President Donald Trump around the safety of paracetamol for pregnant women could impact the NHS in Gwent, a health boss has warned. 

Doctors in the United States are to be advised not to prescribe the pain reliever to pregnant women, after the president cited a disputed link between the drug and autism. 

He claimed taking paracetamol, known as Tylenol in the United States, “is no good” and pregnant women should “fight like hell” and only take it in cases of extreme fever. 

Health officials in the UK have stressed paracetamol remains the safest painkiller available to pregnant women. 

Iwan Jones, an independent member of Gwent’s Aneurin Bevan University Health board – which runs NHS services and hospitals across the region – said he feared the impact of the president’s unfounded comments. 

Mr Jones told the board’s September meeting fears around vaccinations could impact its plans to try and manage pressure on hospitals over the winter, with an expected spike in Covid-19, influenza and Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) likely in December and January. 

He said: “There’s all the stuff from the US, and online, against vaccination and even paracetamol now, which presents a challenge to the health board and a risk in terms of how it can cope over the winter months.”

Professor Tracy Daszkiewicz, the board’s director of public health, said it has been working to dispel myths around vaccination. She highlighted a recent drive where parents were presented with evidence on the safety of vaccinations, which led to the board gaining consent for 200 children. It wasn’t specified which vaccinations were being referred to. 

Prof Daszkiewicz said: “We need to dispel myths, not just about vaccinations, but all medicines and go out with the evidence base.” 

She said the board is also looking at how it can get parental consent that would last for a child’s “school career”, rather than requiring repeated requests, and said parents would be able to opt out of that consent, should they change their minds, at any time. 

That will be discussed at a vaccination summit in October, while the professor said the board began vaccinating its own staff around three weeks ago ahead of the winter.

“Vaccination started really late last year and staff didn’t have the time,” said Prof Daszkiewicz. 

She said the national vaccination campaign isn’t due to start until October but the board wanted to get it underway “before staff are swamped by winter pressures.” 

That will help keep staff available for work throughout the winter period. 

The board has approved a plan for dealing with winter pressures during 2025/26 with early indication from the southern hemisphere suggesting a “challenging” winter in Europe as the rate of respiratory infection observed surpassed levels seen in 2023 and 2024. 

The health board is still waiting on updated modelling from Public Health Wales, expected at the end of September, but board members were also assured management will constantly track infection levels and vaccination rates.