Houston-area health leaders speak out against COVID-19 vaccine misinformation
HOUSTON - Texas Health and Human Services report just under 5,000 new confirmed COVID-19 cases on Saturday.
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Hospitalizations are also climbing rapidly; up from about 1,700 on July 4 to more than 4,000. Locally, the Texas Medical Center reports hospitalizations have doubled since July 4.
Hospital leaders say the reason is the delta variant is spreading rapidly among the unvaccinated.
"Out of the little more than 1,200 that have been admitted to my hospitals -- LBJ and Ben Taub hospitals with COVID-19 since January 1, we have had 221 deaths related to COVID. Not a single one was among people who were vaccinated," said Dr. Esmaeil Porsa, CEO, Harris Health System.
On Saturday, at a vaccine clinic at Kelly Village hosted by Congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee, health officials were not mincing words about the dangers of vaccine misinformation.
"There are people who are reluctant to get vaccinated for a variety of reasons and the reality is that most of those reasons are completely unfounded," said Dr. David Persse, Chief Medical Officer, Houston Health Department.
He went on to describe how there are more than 1 billion who have gotten a COVID-19 vaccine worldwide and only 1 out of every million have a complication from the vaccine and most recover.
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"There are too many people that have been vaccinated and done well for any of this goofiness, any of this misinformation, to hold any water in any reasonable person's mind," Dr. Persse emphasized.
He adds anyone who is unvaccinated and believes they won't be infected with the delta variant is likely wrong.
The Texas Department of State Health Services reports nearly 9,000 COVID-19 deaths since February, only 43 of those were among vaccinated individuals.