Unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 caused by the infectious Delta variant than those who've had 2 shots, real-world data from Texas suggests

Dr. Catherine Schuster-Bruce
Updated ·2 min read

  • Unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 caused by Delta than vaccinated people, new data from Texas suggests.

  • Vaccines prevented death across all age groups, real-world data from the Texas study found.

  • It adds to data from multiple countries showing vaccines stop severe COVID-19 caused by Delta.

Unvaccinated people were 20 times more likely to die from COVID-19 caused by the highly infectious Delta variant than those who are fully vaccinated, real-world data from Texas suggests.

According to data released by the Texas Department of State Health Services on Monday, all ages are strongly protected after receiving two doses of a vaccine. The data was collected between September 4 and October 1.

The analysis included everyone in the state eligible to be vaccinated over the age of 12, the health authority said, although it cautioned that the very low numbers of deaths in those aged 12 to 17 made the data "difficult to interpret."

The latest figures adds to a growing body of research that indicates a greater health risk posed by the Delta variant, as well as the strong effectiveness of vaccines in protecting against it.

Data from New South Wales in Australia, also published Monday, showed that unvaccinated people were 16 times more likely to die than vaccinated people during a Delta outbreak. And another study from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention from September found that unvaccinated people were 11 times more likely to die than people who had received two shots.

Texans were four to five times more likely to die from COVID-19 in August, when the Delta variant was the most common variant, compared to in April, when it wasn't dominant, the Texas Department of State Health Services also said.

The department added that, over time, as more people got vaccinated, the number of deaths amongst vaccinated people was expected to rise.

About 55% of Texans are fully vaccinated, according to Johns Hopkins University compared with a US average of 58.4%, according to the CDC.

Texas' infection rates for September peaked at a weekly average of 20,467 new cases on September 11, according to Johns Hopkins University. The weekly average number of deaths was 255. For comparison, the weekly average number of new COVID-19 cases in Texas as of Monday was 2,552 and weekly average number of deaths was 94, according to Johns Hopkins University.

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