- Cicada variant about 75 spike protein mutations impacting its vaccine match.
- The variant could increase seasonal COVID-19 activity due to vaccine evasion.
- Cicada symptoms mirror other recent COVID-19 infections without increased severity.
There’s a new COVID-19 variant circulating nationally and health officials fear the highly mutated “Cicada” could overcome protection from vaccines or previous infections. But they’re quick to add that it’s not the most active of the variants at the moment. And those are pretty well matched to the vaccine.
According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the highly divergent SARS-CoV-2 variant BA.3.2 was first detected in a respiratory sample collected on Nov. 22, 2024, in South Africa and has now been reported in 23 countries, with an increase in cases since last September.
The study from the CDC notes that this variant “efficiently evades antibodies.”
Since November 2024, the variant has been seen in Africa, Asia, Europe, North American and Oceania.
The detections in the U.S. are adding up, including:
- Nasal swabs from four travelers
- Three airplane wastewater samples
- Clinical samples from five U.S. patients
- 132 wastewater samples in 25 states
Does COVID vaccine work for ‘Cicada’ variant?
COVID-19 has not gone away, though a large share of people have to this point had some natural immunity because they already had the illness or access to effective vaccines. A variant that evades those two protections against future illness could be bad news.
The vaccine appears to ease some of the symptoms, but it’s not a close match to the new virus form that’s circulating. It’s believed Cicada has about 75 mutations in its spike protein, which is where it binds to human cells.
As Fox 8 in Cleveland reported, “The new variant has significant mutations when compared to variants JN.1 and LP.8.1, according to reports. That’s critical because those were the two variants used to develop the 2025-2026 COVID vaccine."
The result of a variant that isn’t headed off very well by vaccine and that could mean seasonal increases in COVID-19 activity.
COVID-19 still circulating
According to the CDC, “Although widespread infection and vaccine-conferred immunity have decreased rates of severe COVID-19 over time, the public health impact of COVID-19 is still considerable: an estimated 390,000–550,000 hospitalizations and 45,000–64,000 deaths occurred during the 2024–25 respiratory virus season.”
According to Northeastern Global News, from Northeastern University, the symptoms of Cicada appear to be similar to other recent variants: sore throat, cough, congestion, fatigue, headache and fever, and in some cases gastrointestinal illnesses. So far, it doesn’t seem to cause severe illness or increase mortality.
Since it is so new, most of what we know about how the variant behaves comes from laboratory — not clinical — data, Dr. William Schaffner, an infectious disease expert at Vanderbilt University Medical Center, told PBS.
“The early data would indicate that it is not more severe, or it doesn’t have any distinctive clinical presentations,” Schaffner said. That has been typical of COVID-19 variants over the last couple of years, he said.
Overall, the disease has not gotten significantly more severe, and the symptoms haven’t changed much from variant to variant.