Story highlights The meeting on climate and health was scheduled for February

"They were afraid that the Trump administration would cancel it"

Washington (CNN) The Centers for Disease Control postponed a summit scheduled for next month on climate change and public health ahead of President Donald Trump's inauguration, participants and the CDC confirmed Monday.

While the Trump administration did not explicitly ask for the move, one of the scheduled keynote speakers of the Climate and Health Summit believes the move was made with the new President's position on climate change in mind. Trump has famously called climate change a "hoax," though his Cabinet has attempted to strike a more moderate tone in confirmation hearings.

The CDC started to notify participants just before Christmas that the meeting was "postponed," according to CDC spokeswoman Bernadette Burden.

"We are exploring options to reschedule the meeting while considering budget priorities for fiscal year 2017, including the current continuing resolution, and potential overlap with an APHA conference on the same topic also being held later in 2017," Burden said in a statement.

Read More