By Tanya Terry
To counter a new wave of infections, on Sunday, August 20, a White House official said the Biden administration plans to urge all Americans to get a COVID-19 booster shot this fall.
Though overall COVID-19 levels are still low, hospital admissions grew 14.3% between July 30 and August 5, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC). The week is the last one from which data is available on COVID-19-related hospitalizations on the CDC website.
Deaths grew 8.3% from August 6 to August 12, the last week data is available on the CDC website about COVID-19 related deaths.
COVID-19 test positivity were also up slightly for the week ending August 12, the CDC website shows.
Moderna has created a shot aimed at the XBB1.5 subvariant. Novavax, Pfizer and BioNTech, a German partner, have created their own versions of the shot aimed at the subvariant. The shots are pending approval from health regulators, but they should be available in the next few weeks.
Moderna also recently shared its updated COVID-19 is showing to be effective against the Fornax and Eris subvariants, according to initial data.
The Biden administration encourages Americans to get their flu shots and shots for respiratory syncytial virus, in addition to their COVID-19 boosters.
