While Texas Lags, Texans Brag About COVID-19 Vaccination Rates

DALLAS, TX —Is Texas headed for yet another reckoning with COVID-19? Statistics show that while variants are on the uptick, vaccinations continue to falter.

The Texas Department of State Health Services provides data that tracks all of this on a weekly basis: shots-in-arms, newly reported cases, hospitalizations and mortality. And the information the state gets is derived from those administering the vaccine, labs, clinics and hospitals, and both county and city health departments. Because of the Lone Star State's limited testing, experts believe the numbers of infection could be significantly under-represented.

State officials are reporting with some degree of optimism that Texas is now passing the 30 percent mark of those vaccinated in the population. And that might sound like good news because more than a quarter of Texans are now as bulletproof against the virus as state-of-the-art science can make them.

Unfortunately, the national average says 45 percent of Americans have been vaccinated — roughly half again as many.

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Yes, the state's mortality rate is on the decline by eight deaths on a seven-day average from last week. New deaths reported on May 11 still saw 57 Texans lose their lives.

Hospitalizations are showing signs of improvement too, with 95 new admissions compared to this time last week. But how many Texans are presently so ill they require in-patient care? As of May 11, 2,508 remain in hospital care.

Meanwhile, the number of vaccinations decreased.

What health officials are witnessing is a see-saw effect, as variants and vaccines jockey for control of the population's health. In Texas, with vaccinations slowing, that could spell danger as variants continue to spread and mutations continue to evolve.

To the degree that the numbers can be trusted (again, because testing is limited in Texas), some 866 fewer cases were reported on May 11. But that still leaves almost 3,000 new cases and 842 "probable" new cases, for a total closer to 4,000 for the week.

Now that vaccinations have been approved for kids as young as 12, a new stage of the fight is on the horizon — and yet, 25 percent of Texas parents say they are unwilling to have their children inoculated, according to a new Kaiser Family Foundation study. So the race is on.

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