Just as COVID-19-related hospitalizations and deaths are starting to break out to new multi-month highs, the U.S. Food and Drug Administration recommended on Tuesday that the U.S. should pursue a booster strategy had better protects against newer more dominant strains, like omicron. The FDA indicated that a new generation of COVID-19 boosters could be ready for rollout as soon as late summer or early fall. Meanwhile, the seven-day average of new COVID cases rose 3% from two weeks ago to 108,963 on Tuesday, and has held relatively steady for the past two months, according to a New York Times tracker. But the daily average of hospitalizations have increased every day since mid-April, and rose 7% from two weeks ago to a 3 1/2-month high of 32,148 on Tuesday. The daily average for deaths was 377 on Tuesday, up 17% from two weeks ago and the highest number since April 20. The number of Americans who have received a first booster shot was 105.09 million, or 47.3% of the population, according to data provided by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. NN: I hope a booster shot against the BA.2 strain of Omicron is still the most dominant. But the deadlier BA.4 or BA.5 strain are starting to show up. And the idiots that are YOUR leaders have held up the funding for new vaccines. Millions will die. I hope the updated vaccines make it before covid plague season starting this fall.