evidence: As a summer marked by yet another COVID-19 surge draws to a close, newly updated COVID vaccines are becoming available for the fall and winter months, a time of year when respiratory illnesses can overwhelm hospitals. The new shots are expected to provide protection against severe illness, hospitalization, and death related to COVID. [...] The new vaccines come at a time when a collection of closely related SARS-CoV-2 strains are circulating in the United States. All of them are descendants of the Omicron strain. JN.1 was the dominant strain in May but was surpassed in June by a collection of other Omicron virus strains, including KP.2. (By late August, KP.2 and JN.1 only accounted for a minimal number of cases, but all three of the new vaccines are expected to protect against new related variants.) [...] If you had COVID recently, the CDC advises waiting three months after you recover before getting another shot.