FDA could greenlight new Covid boosters as early as Friday
https://www.nbcnews.com/health/health-news/fda-green-light-new-covid-boosters-early-friday-rcna103379

The Food and Drug Administration plans to greenlight updated versions of the Covid boosters as early as Friday, according to four people familiar with the agency’s plans.

The latest shots are designed to target the XBB.1.5 omicron subvariant. Though that strain is no longer dominant, the boosters should still protect against current circulating subvariants, which are closely related, the drugmakers and experts say.

The Friday timeline for authorization is not firm, and it could slide into early next week, two of the sources said.

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COVID hospitalizations increase for 7th consecutive week but new boosters could help
https://abcnews.go.com/Health/covid-hospitalizations-increase-7th-consecutive-week-new-boosters/story?id=102959508

COVID-19 hospitalizations are continuing to rise in the United States but there is hope that the uptick could be stemmed with the new boosters.

Hospitalizations increased 15.7% for the week ending Aug. 26 from 15,050 to 17,418, according to data updated Monday by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

These are similar to levels seen in late March of this year and it marks the seventh consecutive week that hospitalizations have increased.

However, hospitalizations remain relatively low compared to other points during the pandemic. During the peak of omicron, the week of Jan. 15, 2022, there were 150,674 hospitalizations.

Additionally, during the same week over the past three years, weekly hospitalizations have sat at 28,209 in 2020, 85,785 in 2021 and 36,922 in 2022.