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Weldon is a Republican former congressman and vaccine

critic

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Atlanta-based CDC has an annual budget of $17.3 billion

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Weldon lacked Senate votes for confirmation, source says

(Adds details on measles outbreak in paragraphs 4-5, outside

expert comment, share reaction in paragraph 8, 10)

By Steve Holland and Julie Steenhuysen

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The White House, in a

surprise move, withdrew President Donald Trump's nomination of

former Republican congressman and vaccine critic Dave Weldon to

serve as director of the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and

Prevention just hours before his confirmation hearing on

Thursday.

Weldon, a physician who has a long history of opposing

vaccines, had been scheduled to appear before the Senate Health,

Education, Labor and Pensions Committee. The committee confirmed

the withdrawal of the nomination and said the hearing had been

canceled.

A source briefed on the matter, speaking on condition of

anonymity, said Weldon lacked the votes needed for Senate

confirmation.

Weldon marks the first nominee the Trump administration has

withdrawn from consideration. The decision comes as the U.S.

faces measles cases in several states and a widening outbreak in

West Texas and New Mexico that has killed two people, as well as

the threat of bird flu.

Weldon would have reported to Robert F. Kennedy Jr., an

avowed vaccine skeptic who heads the U.S. Department of Health

and Human Services, which oversees the CDC.

The withdrawal was first reported by the Axios news outlet.

The Atlanta-based CDC, with an annual budget of $17.3

billion, tracks and responds to domestic and foreign threats to

public health. Roughly two-thirds of its budget provides funds

to the public health and prevention activities of state and

local health agencies.

"The health appointments by the Trump administration have

been uniformly unqualified and destructive. Weldon was among the

worst," said Gregg Gonsalves, an associate professor of

epidemiology at the Yale School of Public Health.

While in Congress, Weldon challenged studies demonstrating

the safety of childhood vaccines, asserting they were harmful

and linked with autism, a theory espoused by longtime vaccine

skeptic Kennedy but debunked by scientists. Reuters has reported

that the CDC does plan to study autism and vaccines.

Shares of vaccine makers rose after the withdrawal became

public. Moderna ( MRNA ) shares were up 5.6% in morning trade,

and Pfizer ( PFE ) and Novavax's ( NVAX ) also rose between 1%

to 2%.