Unvaccinated Texans far more likely to die of COVID-19, health study shows
The COVID-19 vaccine is working.
That’s the finding of a study by the Texas Department of State Health Services that tracked new cases and deaths from Sept. 4 through Oct. 1.
The study showed that Texans not vaccinated against COVID-19 were about 20 times more likely to suffer a COVID-19-related death and 13 times more likely to test positive than people who were fully vaccinated.
The efficacy of the vaccine has been most integral to younger age groups, the study shows. The risk of COVID death was 48 times higher in unvaccinated people in their 30s and 63 times higher for people in their 40s, compared with their vaccinated peers, the DSHS release said.
Texas reported fewer than 10 COVID-related deaths among fully vaccinated people ages 18 to 29. There were 339 COVID-related deaths of unvaccinated people in the same age group in the same span.
Researchers matched electronic lab reports and death certificates with state immunization records. It’s the state’s first statistical analysis of the vaccine’s impact.
“This analysis quantifies what we’ve known for months,” Chief State Epidemiologist Jennifer Shuford, MD, said in a release. “The COVID-19 vaccines are doing an excellent job of protecting people from getting sick and from dying from COVID-19. Vaccination remains the best way to keep yourself and the people close to you safe from this deadly disease.”
The study focused specifically on cases in September to measure the effect of the COVID vaccine with the spread of the more contagious delta variant across the state.
The protective impact on infections was consistent across adult age groups and even greater in people ages 12-17. The protective impact on COVID-19 deaths, which was high for all age groups, varied more widely, according to the study.
Unvaccinated people in their 40s were 55 times more likely to die from COVID compared with fully vaccinated people of the same age. Unvaccinated people aged 75 years and older were 12 times more likely to die than vaccinated Texans in the same age group.
The study also found that, overall, Texas residents were four to five times more likely to become infected with COVID or suffer a COVID-related death in August when the delta variant was most prevalent compared with April.
