The Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is expected to authorize Pfizer and Moderna’s updated booster shots as soon as this week.

The boosters target both the original strain that emerged at the onset of the pandemic and the omicron subvariants, BA.4 and BA.5, that are currently dominant globally.

According to ABC News, advisers to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) are set to meet on Thursday and Friday of this week. If the CDC approves the boosters, the public could have access to updated doses shortly after Labor Day.

Moreover, the FDA removed N95 respirators from the agency’s medical device shortage list on August 26, 2022. According to the FDA press release, the removal signals

…That demand or projected demand for this type of face protection device commonly used in health care settings no longer exceeds the supply. This action is the result of increased domestic manufacturing of N95 respirators, as well as updates to the FDA’s supply chain assessment based on engagement with industry and federal stakeholders, and the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s National Institute for Occupational Safety and Health’s (NIOSH) approval of new disposable N95s and reusable respirators.

Also in the news was the CDC’s recommendation of Novavax’s vaccine. On August 22, Director Rochelle P. Walensky, M.D., M.P.H., signed a decision memo that Novavax’s COVID-19 vaccine be used as another primary series option for adolescents ages 12 through 17.