*

Weldon is a Republican former congressman and vaccine

critic

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

*

Weldon lacked Senate votes for confirmation

(Adds Weldon comment, paragraphs 2 and 5; background,

paragraphs 3, 7-8; Cassidy comment, paragraphs 10-11; updates

share moves)

By Ahmed Aboulenein, Julie Steenhuysen and Steve Holland

WASHINGTON, March 13 (Reuters) - The White House

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, a surprise move that came shortly before his

scheduled Senate confirmation hearing on Thursday.

Weldon, a physician who has a long history of opposing

vaccines, said in a four-page statement posted by the New York

Times that he had been informed 12 hours before the hearing by

the White House that there were not enough votes for

confirmation.

Weldon is the first Trump nominee withdrawn from

consideration, after the Republican-majority Senate confirmed

unconventional picks including anti-vaccine activist Robert F.

Kennedy Jr. as Health and Human Services Secretary, former Fox

News host Pete Hegseth for Defense Secretary and Director of

National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard, who had been critical of

U.S. intelligence efforts.

The decision to withdraw Weldon, which was confirmed by

Senate Health, Education, Labor and Pensions Committee, 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 denied he was anti-vaccine and said in the letter he

believed U.S. senators including Republicans Susan Collins of

Maine and HELP Committee Chairman Bill Cassidy of Louisiana were

voting against him.

Reuters could not immediately confirm the contents of the

letter.

Weldon would have reported to Kennedy, who since his

confirmation has made misleading comments on the role of measles

vaccines and treatments.

In an interview with Fox News that aired on Tuesday, Kennedy

downplayed the safety of the measles vaccine and suggested that

natural immunity from a measles infection would provide better

and longer-lasting protection. Vaccination is the best way to

prevent and stop the spread of the highly contagious disease

that can be most serious for young children, according to public

health experts.

'CRITICAL MOMENT'

Cassidy, a doctor who had expressed wariness about Kennedy's

anti-vaccine views but ultimately cleared the path for his

confirmation, on Thursday said the nation is at a "critical

moment in public health."

"While the COVID-19 pandemic has ended, the loss of trust in

public health and science agencies remains. This comes as the

nation faces serious health threats like a measles outbreak,

which has already claimed at least one life and hospitalized

many more," Cassidy said.

Weldon's 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.

In addition to measles, the new CDC director would be

charged with helping lead the U.S. response to the growing H5N1

bird flu outbreak, which has decimated poultry flocks and driven

up egg prices, infiltrated dairy herds and infected 70 people in

the United States, resulting in one death.

Although the risk to the general public remains low, the

risk to people in contact with infected animals or surfaces is

moderate to high, according to CDC's latest risk assessment.

Shares of vaccine makers initially rose after the withdrawal

became public, but gave back most of those gains. Moderna ( MRNA )

shares, which had been up more than 5%, were about

flat, as were Novavax ( NVAX ) shares. Pfizer ( PFE ) was up

less than 1% on another down day for the broader market.