COVID-19 cases rise as FDA debates variant-specific vaccines

While the graph above looks promising compared to January, Arkansas' coronavirus cases are on the rise again.

• On Wednesday, 1,332 cases were reported, according to the Arkansas Democrat-Gazette. It's the second consecutive daily increase over 1,000.

State of play: Arkansas had a total of 10,664 active cases as of Wednesday, according to the state Department of Health. Of those, 664 were in Benton County, and 760 were in Washington County.

Zoom out: An FDA panel spent hours Tuesday debating how and whether to update vaccines, Axios' Adriel Bettelheim and Tina Reed report.

Yes, and: Time is running short to develop a fall game plan, with existing vaccines losing effectiveness against new variants and more than half of Americans still without a booster dose.

• The Vaccines and Related Biological Products Advisory Committee voted 19-2 to recommend an Omicron-specific update to COVID-19 booster vaccines expected to roll out within the next few months.

Go deeper:​​ COVID vaccine strategy still murky after FDA experts meet