The agency said that people at higher risk such as the immunocompromised and those over age 65 could choose to get a second booster shot before this fall.
While the variant, called Arcturus, hasn t yet made the CDC s watchlist, a prominent pediatrician in India is seeing children with itchy or sticky eyes.
India s federal government asked states to identify emergency hotspots and ramp up-testing for COVID-19, after the country recorded its highest daily case count since September.
Last year, federal officials warned of a likely COVID-19 surge this winter. It never happened, making this the first pandemic winter without a significant spike.
Pfizer and its German partner BioNTech said on Friday they filed an application to the FDA for a full approval of their Omicron-adapted COVID-19 vaccine.