PFE - WHO sets Jan. 27 meeting to decide on COVID emergency

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.

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