--- title: What to Know About the New BA.2.12.1 Variant in the U.S. description: BA.2.12.1, a new variant related to Omicron, is making up an increasing number of COVID-19 cases in the U.S. canonical: https://time.com/6174005/ba-2-12-1-variant-covid-19/ author: Jamie Ducharme article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2022-05-05T20:03:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-02-24T14:13:26.230Z article:section: Health og:title: What to Know About BA.2.12.1, a New Variant Spreading in the U.S. og:description: It's related to Omicron og:url: https://time.com/6174005/ba-2-12-1-variant-covid-19/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf86290194fbdeb22/698a31974ee262c50131a2a6/covid-cases-rising.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1024 og:image:height: 576 og:image:alt: New York City Reports Uptick In Covid Cases og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: What to Know About BA.2.12.1, a New Variant Spreading in the U.S. twitter:description: It's related to Omicron twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf86290194fbdeb22/698a31974ee262c50131a2a6/covid-cases-rising.jpg?branch=production&width=1024&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # What to Know About BA.2.12.1, the New Variant Spreading in the U.S. > Sponsored content. 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Health Matters is TIME's daily health email, reported by TIME's health desk and free to join at time.com/newsletters. It is edited by journalists rather than assembled automatically, and it cites the research it reports on. #### Is Health Matters free? Yes. Health Matters is a free daily newsletter from TIME, available at time.com/newsletters. #### Who reads TIME's Health Matters newsletter? Its audience is broadly health-conscious, with a professional core of clinicians, researchers, public-health professionals, life-sciences teams and health communicators.  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 5, 2022 8:03 PM UTC  A sign alerts people to COVID-19 testing in New York City on May 3, 2022. A sign alerts people to COVID-19 testing in New York City on May 3, 2022. Spencer Platt—Getty Images  by [Jamie Ducharme](https://time.com/author/jamie-ducharme/)  ## Jamie Ducharme Ducharme is a contributor to TIME. May 5, 2022 8:03 PM UTC It’s only been about six months since the Omicron variant emerged and changed the landscape of the pandemic, sending case-counts soaring and [causing breakthrough infections](https://time.com/6130704/breakthrough-infections-omicron/) even among those who were fully vaccinated and boosted. The virus continues to keep scientists guessing, mutating into subvariants almost as fast as researchers can assign them names. First there was BA.2, which [became dominant in the U.S. earlier this spring](https://time.com/6160259/ba2-covid-19-surge/). Now, another Omicron descendent known as BA.2.12.1 is accounting for a growing share of U.S. cases—about 36% of samples sequenced during the week ending April 30, [according to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention](https://covid.cdc.gov/covid-data-tracker/#variant-proportions) (CDC). Overall, average daily diagnoses have roughly doubled nationwide since early April. Two other Omicron spinoffs, known as BA.4 and BA.5, are also currently spreading in South Africa, [where they were first identified](https://www.cnbc.com/2022/04/15/who-tracks-omicron-bapoint4-and-bapoint5-subvariants-as-they-spread-through-africa-and-europe.html), and have been detected in other countries around the world. It always takes time to learn how significant the emergence of new variants will be. Early data suggest the new Omicron relatives spread faster than BA.2, but they do not seem to cause more severe disease, the World Health Organization wrote in [a report published April 27](https://www.who.int/publications/m/item/weekly-epidemiological-update-on-covid-19---27-april-2022). CDC Director Dr. Rochelle Walensky recently gave [a similarly reassuring message to reporters](https://www.usnews.com/news/health-news/articles/2022-05-03/cdc-new-omicron-subvariant-b-2-12-1-responsible-for-a-third-of-new-coronavirus-cases), saying that—though more research is needed—“we continue to believe that those who are vaccinated, and especially those who are boosted, continue to have strong protection against severe disease, even from BA.2.12.1.” However, a pair of preliminary, not-yet-peer-reviewed studies—[one from China](https://assets.researchsquare.com/files/rs-1611421/v1%5Fcovered.pdf?c=1651516226) and [one from South Africa](https://www.medrxiv.org/content/10.1101/2022.04.29.22274477v1)—suggest these newer Omicron subvariants are better than earlier strains at evading the [immunity offered by vaccines and prior infections](https://time.com/6171943/how-long-does-covid-immunity-last/). That means even people who caught the original Omicron strain could be at risk of reinfection—but, as former U.S. Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Dr. Scott Gottlieb [tweeted yesterday](https://twitter.com/ScottGottliebMD/status/1521867804521103360), those who are fully vaccinated _and_ recently had COVID-19 seem to have stronger protection. It’s not surprising that the virus continues to mutate; scientists have long predicted that would be the case. But as BA.2.12.1 works its way around the U.S., it should be a reminder that the pandemic is full of twists and turns. Everything we know about the virus and immunity to it can change. 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