Speaking with Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy, Jr and other members of his Cabinet, President Donald Trump suggested Thursday that “something” is causing higher autism levels across the U.S., possibly including vaccinations, though that theory has been debunked by science.
“You stop taking something, you stop eating something, or maybe it’s a shot,” Trump mused, “but something’s causing it.”
A link between vaccines and the developmental disability is something Trump has considered before. In 2014, he tweeted: “Healthy young child goes to doctor, gets pumped with massive shot of many vaccines, doesn’t feel good and changes – AUTISM. Many such cases!”
Kennedy has ordered a re-examination of a debunked link between vaccinations and autism, and told the president that scientists would “know what has caused the autism epidemic” by September.
“And we’ll be able to eliminate those exposures,” he claimed.
Kennedy has previously linked autism to vaccinations with no evidence, which triggered concerns before he was confrimed as Health secretary. On Sunday, however, amid a deadly oubreak of measles in the U.S., he endorsed the measles-mumps-rubella vaccine , calling it “the most effective way to prevent the spread of measles.”
Researchers have been unable to identify specific causes of autism even thought they have studied the issue since the 1940s. Now Kennedy is claiming he’ll have an answer in just five months.
Kennedy and the president both highlighted that autism rates are on the rise.
“We have, as you, we have now the autism rates have gone from our most recent numbers we think are going to be about one in 31,” Kennedy told Trump. “So, they’re going up again.”
The most recent data shows that one in 36 children in the U.S. have autism, up from the previous rate of one in 44, according to the non-profit Autism Speaks and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
The autism spectrum disorder prevalence rate has increased, with the number of children and adults diagnosed up 175 percent over the course of a decade from 2011 to 2022. There is also a narrowing in the gap between males and females who are diagnosed with autism — although researchers currently don’t know why.
Better diagnosis of the disorder may account for at least some of the decrease, experts say.
“The increase in [autism] diagnoses among young adults suggests that people may be going undiagnosed in childhood, only receiving a diagnosis in early adulthood when challenges in daily life become too difficult to manage,” Autism Speaks said last November.
“The improvement and expansion of universal developmental screening likely accounts for some of the increase in diagnosis rates we found in this study,” said Kaiser Permanente’s Luke Grosvenor, who led that research.
Autism spectrum disorder is caused by differences in the brain. While some people with autism have a known difference, such as a genetic condition, other causes are not yet identified, according to the CDC. An estimated 5.4 million adults in the U.S. have autism.
What causes autism? Experts say it’s not vaccines.
A study Kennedy has previously cited was retracted. Since then, many others have shown vaccination is not associated with autism spectrum disorder.
“Autism is often diagnosed around the same time children receive routine vaccinations, which has led to concerns about a connection — but decades of scientific research have confirmed that vaccines do not cause autism,” Autism Speaks notes.