Washington DC - President Donald Trump voiced support for unfounded conspiracy theories shared by Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr., which posit that vaccines are linked to autism.

During a cabinet meeting on Tuesday, Trump appeared to support claims made by RFK Jr. that something has "artificially" caused autism cases to spike across the US in recent years.

RFK Jr. has claimed in the past that Covid-19 vaccines and other vaccinations are to blame for an increase in autism cases, a belief that has been widely disproven by the medical community.

"There has to be something artificially causing this – meaning a drug or something," Trump said during the cabinet meeting.

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"And I know that you're looking very strongly at different things, and I hope that you can come out with that as soon as possible," Trump said, looking over at RFK Jr.

"So one in 10,000 – and now it's one in 31, or 34, or 12 if it's a boy – can you imagine that, one in 12? That's for a boy... It's not even believable that that could be."

According to Autism Speaks, an organization that advocates for people with autism, about 4% of boys and 1% of girls have autism in the US, while one in 45 adults has been diagnosed with the condition.

It's widely accepted that a spike in reported autism cases since the year 2000 is due to advances in the way that the condition is diagnosed, not due to vaccinations of any kind.

The Trump administration – and RFK Jr. in particular – has been in a long war against Covid-19 jabs, reports on Monday revealing that a plan to ban the vaccinations may be announced within months.