El Paso County Health: At least 75% of COVID deaths are unvaccinated or received just one shot
EL PASO COUNTY, Colo. (KRDO) -- Since the COVID-19 vaccine was first made available to the general public, El Paso County Health officials say 75% to 85% of deaths were either unvaccinated or just received one dose of an mRNA vaccine.
Meanwhile, more than a quarter of El Paso County still hasn't received a single dose of the COVID-19 vaccine.
At a COVID-19 Response press briefing, Dr. Rochelle Walensky, the Director for the Center for Disease Control (CDC), said data continues to reinforce the critical importance for vaccination. The study stems from data taken from 25 U.S. jurisdictions reporting cases and deaths related to vaccination status.
“The risk of dying from COVID-19 was 14 times higher for people who were unvaccinated compared to those who received the primary series," said Dr. Walensky. "For those that were boosted. The average for weekly deaths were 0.1 per one hundred thousand people. Unvaccinated people were ninety seven times more likely to die compared to those who were boosted.”
"I cannot fathom the stupidity and denial of people who refuse to get vaccinated," Kristina Phillips from Peyton told 13 Investigates on Wednesday.
In April of last year, 38-year old Kyle Spiller, Phillips' son, died from COVID-19. His mother says he was a prime target for the deadly disease. Not only because Kyle was more than one hundred pounds overweight, but he refused to get vaccinated.
Even though Phillips says her son was 'really funny, very loyal, and he had a lot of friends', her son downplayed the pandemic.
Despite being eligible for the shot before the general public, Phillips said any plea for her son to get vaccinated fell on deaf ears.
“He was a Trump supporter that believed it was just another version of the flu," Phillips said. "He was so needle-phobic this was the perfect excuse not to have to get vaccinated. I don’t really now how much he actually believed, and how much he just used as an excuse.”
After testing positive for COVID-19 in March of 2021, Kyle's family knew it was going to be a battle. Spiller spent 17 days in three separate hospitals.
Phillips says doctors threw everything at him to no avail.
Kyle Spiller passed away on April 6th 2021. Family was allowed at his bedside.
“Conservatively maybe three people for every person who died has been negatively impacted. Since the vaccine has come along, unnecessarily negatively impacted,” Phillips said. “If you give a fat rats patootie about your family. Get the damn vaccine.”
