WHO sets Jan. 27 meeting to decide on COVID emergency
diegograndi

A panel of the World Health Organization (WHO) is scheduled to meet on Jan. 27 to discuss whether the current COVID-19 pandemic will remain a global emergency, a spokesperson said Tuesday.
On January 30, 2020, the WHO called the COVID-19 outbreak a Public Health Emergency of International Concern (PHEIC), issuing the U.N. agency's highest alert level.
WHO's COVID-19 International Health Regulations Emergency Committee meets every few months to discuss whether COVID-19 fits the criteria to be called a PHEIC. The panel advises WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus, who makes the final decision on the designation.
WHO spokesperson Carla Drysdale confirmed the timing of the upcoming meeting at a press briefing in Geneva, Reuters reported.
Leading COVID-19 vaccine makers: Pfizer (NYSE:PFE)/ BioNTech (NASDAQ:BNTX), Moderna (NASDAQ:MRNA), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Novavax (NASDAQ:NVAX), AstraZeneca (AZN), Sinovac Biotech (SVA), Sinopharm Group (OTCPK:SHTDF) (OTCPK:SHTDY), CanSino Biologics (OTCPK:CASBF), GlaxoSmithKline (GSK)/ Sanofi (SNY), Valneva SE (VALN)
Largest U.S. manufacturers of rapid COVID-19 antigen tests: Becton, Dickinson (BDX), QuidelOrtho (QDEL), Abbott Laboratories (ABT), Roche (OTCQX:RHHBY)
Makers of COVID-19 therapeutics: Gilead (GILD), Pfizer (PFE), Merck (MRK)
The meeting comes amid a COVID resurgence in China and weeks after Dr. Adhanom said that he was "hopeful" the pandemic will not be recognized as a global emergency at some point next year.