**The Known Anti-Vaxxer is Misinterpreting and Exaggerating the Connection, Expert Says**
*By Rachael Robertson | MedPage Today – September 30, 2025*
Welcome to *Culture Clinic*, MedPage Today’s collaboration with Northwell Health, offering healthcare professionals’ perspectives on the latest viral medical topics.
Actress and longtime anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy recently took to social media to weigh in on debates surrounding acetaminophen (Tylenol), vaccines, and autism, citing concerns about glutathione depletion.
While some of McCarthy’s claims have a basis in truth, an expert told MedPage Today that she mischaracterizes the relationship between acetaminophen and glutathione, manipulating information to fit an agenda.
McCarthy, who describes herself as “pro-safe vaccine,” shared an Instagram video with her millions of followers stating that “Tylenol basically depletes your glutathione,” which she described as “your body’s natural antioxidant… that helps us detox all the environmental toxins that we’re assaulted with every single day.”
She posited that if someone raises concerns about aluminum in vaccines, a doctor might say the body naturally excretes it. However, McCarthy asks, “What if your body is low in glutathione? What if that detox methylation system gets kind of jolted, broken, if you will, lowers so that it cannot detox the adjuvants, the aluminum in the body? Then it winds up floating around the body, attaching to brain, gut — you name it.”
McCarthy went on to recommend avoiding Tylenol before or after vaccines and suggested getting glutathione levels checked.
However, Lauren Shawn, MD, an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York, told MedPage Today, “I personally have never ordered a glutathione level or checked it in my entire life as a toxicologist. Glutathione level itself is not really clinically relevant to me in my practice.”
Regarding vaccines, Dr. Shawn explained that the recommendation to avoid acetaminophen or other anti-inflammatories before vaccination is to prevent blunting the immune response—not due to concerns about glutathione or toxicity. She emphasized that taking acetaminophen after vaccination to manage symptoms is perfectly fine.
Glutathione is a tripeptide composed of three amino acids—cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine—and is involved in the metabolism of medications, including acetaminophen, Shawn noted. Most acetaminophen binds to glutathione, becomes inactive, and is excreted in urine. A small amount is metabolized by liver enzymes into a toxic compound, N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine (NAPQI), which the body can detoxify if acetaminophen is taken as prescribed.
“If you’re taking Tylenol at recommended doses and not chronically exceeding the maximum, you are not depleting your glutathione,” Shawn said.
Toxicity from acute or chronic acetaminophen overuse is a genuine concern, and N-acetylcysteine— which helps the body replenish glutathione—is the standard antidote. Most healthy individuals obtain glutathione precursors through their diet, although some elderly patients, those with renal disease, malnourishment, eating disorders, or genetic predispositions may have lower glutathione levels and thus a higher risk for toxicity.
In her video, McCarthy claimed that both she and her son, who has autism, have naturally low glutathione levels, despite her not taking acetaminophen around vaccination times. She also stated that they receive weekly glutathione IV infusions.
Shawn responded by noting that glutathione is a trending treatment in alternative medicine despite lacking solid evidence supporting its use. “Best-case scenario you’re giving yourself expensive urine,” she added.
She further criticized anti-vaccine advocates like McCarthy and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., saying they “use big medical terms and words, and they sort of touch on things that are kind of correct,” but lack the expertise to properly analyze and interpret the data.
“I just think it’s so dangerous that these celebrities and non-healthcare professionals are saying things as the truth without real evidence or understanding of what they’re saying, and they’re convincing other people to follow their lead,” Shawn said.
She distinguished this from informal patient networks where individuals share information about managing their conditions, explaining that figures like McCarthy and Kennedy often push a particular narrative, exaggerate risks, and blur the line between expertise and opinion.
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**About the Author**
Rachael Robertson is a writer on the MedPage Today enterprise and investigative team, covering OB/GYN news. Her work has appeared in *Everyday Health*, *Gizmodo*, the *Bronx Times*, and various podcasts.
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**Topics:** Business/Economy; Health/Medicine; Science
**Keywords:** Jenny McCarthy, toxicology, Tylenol
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