Posted on 09/30/2025 6:30:54 PM PDT by nickcarraway
The known anti-vaxxer is misinterpreting and exaggerating the connection, expert says
Welcome to Culture Clinic, MedPage Today's collaboration with Northwell Health to offer a healthcare professional's take on the latest viral medical topics.
Actress and longtime anti-vaccine activist Jenny McCarthy took to social media to weigh in on recent debates about acetaminophen (Tylenol), vaccines, and autism, sharing her concerns about glutathione depletion.
While some of McCarthy's claims are rooted in truth, an expert told MedPage Today that McCarthy mischaracterized the relationship between acetaminophen and glutathione and manipulated information to fit an agenda.
McCarthy, who describes herself as "pro-safe vaccine," said in an Instagram videoopens in a new tab or window to her millions of followers 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 went on to say that if someone were to go to their doctor and raise worries about aluminum in vaccines, a doctor may tell you that your body naturally excretes it.
"But what if your body is low in glutathione?" McCarthy posited. "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 recommended not taking Tylenol before or after vaccines and to get glutathione levels checked.
"I personally have never ordered a glutathione level or checked it in my entire life as a toxicologist," Lauren Shawn, MD, an emergency medicine physician and medical toxicologist at Phelps Hospital in Sleepy Hollow, New York, told MedPage Today. "Glutathione level itself is not really clinically relevant to me in my practice."
As for vaccines, Shawn said that the recommendation to not take acetaminophen or other anti-inflammatories before a shot is to avoid blunting the immune response and has nothing to do with glutathione or fears of toxicity. Taking acetaminophen afterwards to manage symptoms is absolutely fine, she noted.
Glutathione is a tripeptide made up of three amino acids -- cysteine, glutamic acid, and glycine -- and is involved in the metabolism of medications, including acetaminophen, Shawn explained. Most of the drug will bind to glutathione, become inactive, and be excreted in urine. A small amount can be taken up by another liver enzyme and form the toxic metabolite N-acetyl-p-benzoquinone imine, which the body can detoxify if the patient is taking acetaminophen 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 overuse of acetaminophen is an actual concern, and N-acetylcysteine, which helps the body make glutathione, is the antidote.
Most healthy people consume the building blocks of glutathione in their diet, though some elderly people and those with renal disease, malnourishment or eating disorders, or genetic predispositions may have lower glutathione and thus higher risk for acetaminophen toxicity.
In the video, McCarthy shared that she and her son, who has autism, both have naturally low glutathione levels, even though she didn't take acetaminophen before or after vaccines, and they both get weekly glutathione IV infusions.
Shawn said glutathione is one of the hot new treatments in alternative medicine, even though evidence doesn't support the therapy.
"Best-case scenario you're giving yourself expensive urine," she added.
She also said anti-vaxxers like McCarthy and HHS Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. "use the big medical terms and words, and they sort of touch on things that are kind of correct," but don't have the expertise to analyze and understand 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.
This is different than informal patient networks in which people share information about managing their conditions, she pointed out, noting that people like McCarthy and Kennedy often push for a particular narrative, exaggerate risk, and blur the line between expertise and opinion.
Rachael Robertson is a writer on the MedPage Today enterprise and investigative team, also covering OB/GYN news. Her print, data, and audio stories have appeared in Everyday Health, Gizmodo, the Bronx Times, and multiple podcasts. Connect:
Vaxx pimp Rachael Robert$on can have a nice cup of $TFU.
Lauren $hawn, pharma $tooge and vaxx pimp.
In her defense Jenna identifies as Pro - SAFE Vaccine
In the words of Trump, thank you for your attention to this matter. :)
Tylenol is relatively safe, so long as it is taken strictly according to the instructions, but far too many people have gotten the idea that Tylenol is as harmless as candy. They blow off any cautions about strictly following maximum dosages and dosage timing, and casually pop Tylenol every time they have a minor ache or pain. But if not carefully controlled, use of Tylenol can cause great harm to your liver. We’ve got to stop treating common OTC drugs like Tylenol, Advil, aspirin, etc. like they’re completely harmless, because they’re not.
I’ve always been wary of this effect, so I will endure pain or discomfort unless and until I truly need to use something like Tylenol. As a result, my overall use of it is minimal. That is how we should approach all drugs.
As for vaccines, Shawn said that the recommendation to not take acetaminophen or other anti-inflammatories before a shot is to avoid blunting the immune response and has nothing to do with glutathione or fears of toxicity. Taking acetaminophen afterwards to manage symptoms is absolutely fine, she noted.
I’m just a retired medsurg RN, but this makes no sense to me. If taking tylenol before getting vaccinated has nothing to do with glutathione or fears of toxicity, then taking it afterwards should have the same effect or non-effects. The half life is 2 hours in adults, 3-4 hours in children and 7 hours in newborns. Half life means how long it takes for half the medicine to clear your system. Then it takes half that time to clear half of that, and so on.
Who is Jenny McCarthy?
Not guilty
I am no fan of celebrities telling other people how to live their lives. That being said, I think ordinary people might pay less attention to celebrities if the actual "experts" would tell us the Truth. But they don't. The "experts" lie and hide information. It's about the money. It's about the grants. The people who should inform us about things are too busy rushing to the bank to cash their checks. And so people listen to a Playboy Playmate like Jenny McCarthy. She may not be right, but she will actually tell you what she really thinks. And the "experts" don't do that.
glutathione is the rescue drug in Tylenol overdoses, which is a terrible way to go with rapid onset liver falure. Also occurs in standard doses of Tylenol mixed with alcohol. NAC, as the precursor to glutathione is infused intravenously when Tylenol od is confirmed with acetaminophen levels or probably with sufficient circumstantial evidence in ER. NAC has a very interesting history, was highly recommended by Peter Mccullough and others during COVID as a supplement ( very early on an article posted on FR from NY Post detailed a youndg man whose mom was dying from COVID having called his college chemistry prof who took a shot in the dark to recommend NAC to replenish glutathione—I went out to GNC that March Sunday afternoon at pucchased a bottle of glutathione, just in case, for $35, not knowing chemistry that NAC was essentially the same thing to the liver at about 1/3 the cost) . Of course NAC was one of the things Fauci and FDA tried to have taken off the market as part of their “no treatment “strategy ( It is used effectively off label for OCD, especially in autism). The manufacturers fought back, as it sis a supplement not a prescription drug. It had a clinicl trial in the 60’s for nobody seems to know what but failed, but revolutionized treatment of Tylenol OD sometime later, probably in the 90’s.
Do you remember in 2021 when the government was trying to ban it and Amazon in many places stop trying to sell it. It was really hard to get our hands on.
Do you remember in 2021 when the government was trying to ban it and Amazon in many places stop trying to sell it. It was really hard to get our hands on.
NAC= N-acetyl cysteine
Well, since you asked…
That’s right, the Fauci -Collins mafia, no doubt.
glutathione depletion is a very real thing:
glutathione is the substance necessary for converting the liver-toxic Stage One metabolite of acetaminophen into the non-toxic Stage Two metabolite, which is water soluble and therefore can be eliminated by the kidneys ...
a shortage of glutathione, say, due to taking too much acetaminophen or drinking alcohol simultaneously while taking acetaminophen, results in the liver-toxic stage one metabolite accumulating instead of being converted to the non-toxic form, resulting in liver destruction ...
the supplement NAC is the main precursor to glutathione, and in fact, the standard treatment for acute acetaminophen toxicity is IV N-acetylcysteine (NAC)
Must be true since MedPage is the only trade pub not in the pocket of Big Pharma/Health…
Do you take NAC regularly and is/ has (bern) your experience.
Do you have any opinion on NAD/ NAD+?
no, I took it some during COVID; sorry, no knowledge on the other.
no, I took it some during COVID; sorry, no knowledge on the other.
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