Well-Being

New data from Texas suggests unvaccinated people are 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19

Story at a glance

  • The Texas Department of State Health Services released a report that analyzed COVID-19 cases and deaths starting from Jan. 15 through Oct. 1.
  • The report initially found that unvaccinated people were 40 times more likely to die from COVID-19 between Jan. 15 and Oct. 1.
  • But between Sept. 4 and Oct. 1 that number dropped to 20 times more likely to die.

A new study out of Texas found that unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than vaccinated people and that people living in Texas were four to fives times more likely to contract and die from COVID-19 while the delta variant was prevalent there.

The Texas Department of State Health Services analyzed data among people who tested positive for COVID-19 who were vaccinated and unvaccinated, and published the results today. The report compares data from two different timeframes, between Jan. 15 and Oct. 1 against data from Sept. 4 to Oct. 1. 

It found that among those who died from COVID-19 between Jan. 15 and Oct. 1, 85 percent were unvaccinated. Only 7 percent of those who died were vaccinated against the virus.

Between that same timeframe, the study found that unvaccinated people were 40 times more likely to die from COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people. Jumping to the Sept. 4 to Oct. 1 timeframe, that number dropped to 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19.

That drop was also represented in the percentage of reported COVID-19 deaths, as the vaccine became available and more people began to take it. The percentage of COVID-19 deaths between Jan. 15 and Oct. 1 among unvaccinated people was at 85 percent, but between Sept. 4 and Oct. 1 that percentage dropped slightly to 81 percent. 


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According to Texas Health and Human Services, approximately 66 percent of Texas’ population is vaccinated, which is just about in line with the national average which is currently at 67 percent. 

The report also found that vaccinated people who were 12 to 17-years-old had the greatest protection against COVID-19 infections. Specifically in the Sept. 4 to Oct. 1 timeframe, the report found that unvaccinated people who were 40-49-years-old were 55 times more likely to die from COVID-19 compared to fully vaccinated people of the same age.

Researchers also found that people in the state of Texas were four to five times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 or suffer a COVID-19-associated death while the delta variant was prevalent in August, compared to the period before the delta variant became prevalent in Texas in April. 

Texas attorney general Ken Paxton joined a handful of states in suing the Biden administration over it’s COVID-19 vaccine mandate for all federal contractors, which a judge recently suspended. Texas Gov. Greg Abott also issued an executive order in October banning any entity in his state from mandating a COVID-19 vaccination. 


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