A new study released Monday by the Texas Department of State Health Services, focused on determining the effects of vaccination on COVID-19 cases and deaths in Texas.
The analysis included a period from Jan. 15 to Oct.1 with a particular focus on the four weeks from Sept. 4 to Oct.1, which allowed the agency to measure the effect of COVID-19 vaccination as the more contagious Delta variant surged across Texas.
According to the research, data from electronic lab reports, death certificates, and the state immunization registry was analyzed, to compare COVID-19 cases and death rates among people who were unvaccinated to those who were fully vaccinated. Allowing DSHS to calculate the repercussions of vaccination in Texas.
Overall there were 3 key findings, the first one being that unvaccinated people were 13 times more likely to become infected with COVID-19 than fully vaccinated people. Also unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to experience COVID-19 associated death than fully vaccinated people.
Researchers confirmed that vaccinated people create a strong protective effect against COVID-19 among people of all age groups, but greater in people ages 12 to 17 years.
In the unvaccinated age group of 18 to 29 there were 339 COVID-19 related deaths in the four-week time period studied, while there were only 10 deaths in that age group that was vaccinated.
During the time period studied, unvaccinated people in their 40s were 55 times more likely to die from COVID-19 when compared to fully vaccinated people of the same age, while unvaccinated people aged 75 years and older were 12 times more likely to die than their vaccinated counterparts
Overall the study concludes that people in Texas are 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 (August 2021) compared to a time period where it wasn’t (Abril 2021).
“This analysis quantifies what we’ve known for months,” said Chief State Epidemiologist Jennifer Shuford, MD. “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,” as reported by Spectrum News 1.
