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<\/p>\nDoctors warns: ‘Because it\u2019s significantly different, the current COVID-19 vaccine may not be as effective’<\/p>\n
The Covid variant\u2019s ability to stay \u2018underground\u2019 for so long before bursting into action has earned it the nickname cicada(Image: Getty)<\/p>\n
A doctor has warned that vaccinations may be less effective against a new Covid variant with 75 mutations in its structure, which is sweeping around the world<\/a>. The UK Health Security Agency is monitoring the spread of the strain, officially designated BA.3.2.<\/p>\n The variant\u2019s ability to stay \u2018underground\u2019 for so long before bursting into action has earned <\/a>it the nickname cicada – after the insect which lies dormant for years. It has been detected in 23 countries and is sweeping the US.<\/p>\n Writing on The Conversation website, Kyle B. Enfield<\/a>, Associate Professor of Medicine, University of Virginia, said it was very different to previous variants. He said: \u201cThere\u2019s no sign so far that BA.3.2, nicknamed Cicada, is any more dangerous or causes more severe disease than the variants that were circulating in the winter of 2025-26. But because it\u2019s significantly different from them, the current COVID-19 vaccine may not be as effective against it.\u201d<\/p>\n Researchers first identified BA.3.2 in November 2024 in Africa. It started its<\/a> global trek in 2025 and had made it to 24 countries as of February 2026.<\/p>\n The Cicada variant (BA.3.2) has been confirmed in the United Kingdom<\/a>. While it is not yet the dominant strain in the UK (where variants like XFG and \u2018Nimbus\u2019 have been more common recently, health agencies like the UKHSA are monitoring it due to its potential to bypass immunity from older vaccines and past infections<\/p>\n Prof Enfield said: \u201cBA.3.2 is descended from the omicron<\/a> variant, which emerged in late 2021. Compared to the current predominant strains of SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, BA.3.2 carries 70 to 75 genetic changes in its spike protein, the part of the virus that helps it get into cells. The spike protein is also the part of the virus that vaccines rely on to coax people\u2019s immune systems into recognizing the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cAll viruses change over time \u2013 and the type of virus that causes COVID-19 does so especially quickly. Every time the virus copies itself inside a cell, its genetic material mutates. Most of these changes disappear, but occasionally one gives the virus an advantage over other variants, allowing that version to spread.<\/p>\n \u201cThese changes make it harder for the immune system to recognize the virus.\u201d He said some patients were more at risk: \u201cAs a pulmonary and critical care doctor, I see many patients who are at high risk for severe COVID-19 due to chronic lung disease, as well as patients living with long COVID. All of them ask me how worried they should be about new variants of the virus.\u201d<\/p>\n On the issue of vaccines, talking about the situation in the US, he said: \u201cScientists design vaccines based on the most common versions of a virus circulating at a given time. Current COVID-19 vaccines are made to protect against strains from the JN.1 lineage of the virus, which have been the most common strains in the U.S. since January 2024. However, BA.3.2 is the new kid in the block \u2212 it\u2019s almost a complete stranger to residents of the U.S. It is different enough from the JN.1 strains that the vaccine may not do as good a job of priming the immune system against it, allowing it to evade detection.\u201d<\/p>\n