Health Claims, Research, and What Experts Say

At a White House event in September 2025, President Donald Trump presented medical claims that linked autism with both childhood vaccinations and the use of paracetamol by pregnant women. International health authorities and many scientists have rejected the implied causal connections, noting that the weight of evidence does not support such conclusions. The World Health Organization has described the paracetamol findings as inconsistent, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that vaccines do not cause autism, positions that have been echoed by European regulators.

Large epidemiological research, including a 2024 sibling study of roughly 2.4 million births in Sweden published in JAMA, has been highlighted as particularly informative; when siblings were compared to control for shared genetics and family factors, researchers found no increase in autism linked to prenatal acetaminophen exposure. National institutes and university teams involved in that work have emphasized that observed associations in some studies are likely explained by confounding variables rather than the drug itself.

Decades of vaccine safety research using large populations and different study designs have likewise failed to show a causal relationship with autism, and public health agencies caution that delaying recommended immunizations could increase the risk of preventable disease. When a political leader offers medical advice that departs from this scientific consensus, clinicians and regulators warn that it may reduce trust in proven care and could lead people to make choices that harm mothers and children.

Observers also noted that in 2020 he asked whether disinfectants could be used inside the body to kill the coronavirus, a remark that medical professionals and manufacturers warned was dangerous and that fact-checkers later clarified.