US Health and Human Services Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. pledged in April that there would be answers on the causes of autism this month. Since then, he has ousted public health officials, publicly rebuked studies showing no link between vaccines and autism, and said “interventions” are “almost certainly” responsible for causing rising autism rates.

And the proposed autism studies have not started.

Thousands of researchers hailing from the top universities and institutions in the country have applied for the federal funding that Kennedy announced in April. The US National Institutes of Health is expected this month to announce up to 25 awardees for the $50 million “massive research and testing effort.”

Among the applicants are longtime veterans of the field from Brigham and Women’s

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