Dr Mehmet Oz, a former TV presenter and Trump official, said the medication leucovorin will be made available on Medicaid as part of an “aggressive” campaign to treat autism.
Oz, the administrator of the Centres for Medicare & Medicaid Services, said Trump was “unwilling to wait” for results.
“Mr President, God bless you for being brave,” he said.
Leucovorin, also known as folinic acid, is usually prescribed to counteract the toxic effects of chemotherapy medications. It is also used as a treatment for anaemia.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, has said he is “closely examining” the link between autism and vaccines.
Kennedy, 71, said “40 per cent of mothers who have children with autism” believe that their child was “injured” by a vaccine.
He said there was no “taboo” in the investigations over the causes of autism and said “one we are closely examining is vaccines”.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, has said the White House is following “evidence-based medicine” rather than “politicised science and corruption”.
Kennedy, a vaccine sceptic, criticised previous health officials who funded “politically safe and entirely fruitless research about the genetic drivers of autism”.
He said it was “like looking at the genetic drivers of lung cancer without looking at cigarettes”.
“With Tylenol — don’t take it. Don’t take it!” Trump warned repeatedly. He added: “In Cuba, they don’t have Tylenol because they don’t have the money for Tylenol. They have no autism. Tell me about that one.”
Cuba had an autism rate of 83.30 per 10,000 children in 2023, according to data from the Autism and Developmental Disabilities Monitoring Network. The US rate was 80.90, the same data shows.
President Trump has begun criticising the vaccination of children.
The US president said he wanted “no mercury” or “aluminium” in vaccines.
“You have a little child, a little fragile child, and you get a vat of 80 different vaccines, I guess. Eighty different blends. And they pump it in,” he said.
President Trump has said “you shouldn’t” take Tylenol “during the entire pregnancy”.
The US president said there had been a “more than 400 per cent” rise in autism cases and said Tylenol was “not good”.
He said there were groups of people who “don’t take vaccines and don’t take any pills that have no autism”.
President Trump has said there has been a “meteoric” rise in autism cases in the US.
The US president began his press conference by thanking Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, for bringing this issue to the “forefront of American politics”.
“The meteoric rise in autism is among the most alarming public health developments in history,” he said.
President Trump called autism a “horrible, horrible crisis” as he kicked off the press conference.
Trump has begun speaking almost an hour after originally planned. He is sharing statistics on autism rates in the US, speaking in front of doctors who have studied its causes.
Kenvue, the health company producing Tylenol, said this month that it had engaged in a “scientific exchange” with US Department of Health and Human Services officials, and urged pregnant women to speak with their healthcare provider before taking any over-the-counter medication.
“Acetaminophen [the active ingredient in Tylenol, known in the UK as paracetamol] is the safest pain reliever option for pregnant women as needed throughout their entire pregnancy,” the company said on Sunday. “Without it, women face dangerous choices: suffer through conditions like fever that are potentially harmful to both mom and baby or use riskier alternatives.
“The facts are that over a decade of rigorous research, endorsed by leading medical professionals and global health regulators, confirms there is no credible evidence linking acetaminophen to autism. We stand with the many public health and medical professionals who have reviewed this science and agree. We will continue to explore all options to protect the health interests of American women and children.”
At a cabinet meeting last month, President Trump told Robert F Kennedy Jr: “Autism is such a tremendous horror show — what’s happening in our country and some of the [other] countries.”
Kennedy told the president that his Department of Health and Human Services would release findings about a potential link between pregnant women’s use of Tylenol and autism this month. “I’m looking forward to that day, because there’s something wrong when you see the kind of numbers that you have today versus 20 years ago,” Trump said.
Robert F Kennedy Jr, the health secretary, has previously promoted discredited theories linking vaccines to autism.
He claimed in April that the condition was a “preventable disease” caused by “an environmental toxin”. He has also described it as an “epidemic running rampant”.
Doctors and scientists have long dismissed claims that paracetamol — known as acetaminophen in the US — is unsafe for use by pregnant women.
The American College of Obstetricians and Gynaecologists [ACOG] published guidance in 2021 confirming the drug was safe to use.
“ACOG and obstetrician-gynaecologists across the country have always identified acetaminophen as one of the only safe pain relievers for pregnant individuals during pregnancy,” it said.
“This consensus statement, and studies that have been conducted in the past, show no clear evidence that proves a direct relationship between the prudent use of acetaminophen during any trimester and foetal developmental issues.”
The connection has not come out of the blue: a potential association between paracetamol exposure in the womb and autism has been identified in small, observational studies over the past ten years.
However, larger and more rigorous studies have disproved a causal link and reputable scientists are confident that paracetamol, known in the US as acetaminophen, does not increase the risk of autism, ADHD (attention deficit hyperactivity disorder) or learning disabilities.
In the UK, NHS guidelines state: “Paracetamol is the first choice of painkiller if you’re pregnant. It is commonly taken during pregnancy and does not harm your baby.”
• Read the full fact check: do painkillers increase risk of autism?
Robert F Kennedy Jr and Trump in July
JIM WATSON/AFP/GETTY IMAGES
The White House is adhering to the “gold standard” of scientific research, Karoline Leavitt, the White House press secretary, has said.
At a press briefing before Trump’s autism announcement, Leavitt said Robert F Kennedy Jr — the health secretary and a vaccine sceptic — and his officials were “viewing things in a much different lens”.
“They are paying attention to studies, and the gold standard of science and research, that many in this city for far too long have turned a blind eye to,” she said.
President Trump is expected to say at a press conference this afternoon that the use of the painkiller Tylenol by pregnant women can lead to autism.
“I think we’ve found the answer to autism,” the US president said on Sunday at a memorial service for Charlie Kirk in Glendale, Arizona.
The painkiller contains the active ingredient acetaminophen, which is sold over the counter in the UK as paracetamol.
A study of almost 2.5 million women in Sweden found no link between the use of paracetamol during pregnancy and autism.
Trump is also expected to propose treating autism with leucovorin, a drug which has been used to treat cancer, folate deficiency and methanol poisoning.