President Donald Trump continued to float baseless conspiracies about the causes of autism during a cabinet meeting on Tuesday.
“There has to be something artificially causing this, meaning a drug or something,” Trump said to Health Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. during the meeting. “And I know you’re looking very strongly into the things, and I hope you can come out with that as soon as possible.”
Trump was responding to Kennedy’s claim that he knows what is “almost certainly” causing autism.
“We’re finding certain interventions now that are clearly, almost certainly causing autism,” Kennedy said. “We’re going to be able to address those in September.”
Kennedy, a prolific vaccine skeptic now in charge of the country’s leading health agency, has routinely suggested that the shots cause autism. Researchers have found there is no single cause of autism, but that factors, including genetics, play a role, according to the National Institutes of Health.
In June, a leading coronavirus vaccine adviser at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention resigned over what she called her inability to help the “most vulnerable” after a recommendation to immunize children and pregnant women for the virus was rescinded.
During a House hearing in May, Kennedy said his opinions on vaccines are irrelevant, even as he has been given the power to change vaccination policy on a national scale.
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“My opinions about vaccines are irrelevant,” Kennedy said. “I don’t want to seem like I’m being evasive, but I don’t think people should be taking medical advice from me.”
During Tuesday’s cabinet meeting, Kennedy promised to have a full report out in September on the causes of autism. Both Kennedy and Trump expressed alarm at what they see as a rise in autism cases. However, experts have primarily attributed an increase in reported cases to more awareness and improved diagnostic capabilities.
“I think we maybe know the reason,” Trump said of a possible cause of autism. “And I look forward to that press conference, and to be with you on that press conference.”