Categories: Coronaviris Updates

COVID-19 is spreading fast among Texas’ unvaccinated. Here’s who they are and where they live.

There are two main groups within Texas’ unvaccinated population: white conservatives in rural areas, and Hispanic and Black people in big cities.

By Colleen Deguzman and Mandi Cai

Percent fully vaccinated by county

The percentage of residents fully vaccinated by county shows which areas have higher rates of immunization compared to the statewide rate.

Note: Doses administered at military bases, federal prisons, and Veterans Affairs Hospitals are not included.
Sources: Texas Department of State Health Services and U.S. Census Bureau population estimates
Credit: The Texas Tribune

New confirmed and probable cases of coronavirus in Texas in the last two weeks

The Texas Tribune is measuring the rate of confirmed and probable cases per 1,000 residents in each county in the last two weeks. This shows where numbers are increasing in the state.

Sources: Texas Department of State Health Services and U.S. Census Bureau population estimates
Credit: The Texas Tribune

Still, attitudes like Offutt’s are common among white conservative rural folks, said Dr. David Lakey, the chief medical officer of the University of Texas System. According to the Tribune’s analysis, 33% of people in rural or nonmetropolitan counties are fully vaccinated as of Aug. 1, behind the state’s rate of 44%.

Since April, rural counties have lagged the state in vaccinations

A third of people in rural counties are fully vaccinated, compared to more than 40% of the entire state.

Note: In this chart, rural counties are counties outside of metropolitan statistical areas defined by the Office of Management and Budget.
Source: Texas Department of State Health Services, 2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates

In the state’s biggest cities, the story is different. Vaccination rates are higher in the metropolitan areas, but the cities’ poorer neighborhoods and the neighborhoods with more people of color tend to have much lower vaccination rates.

Overall, Black and Hispanic Texans hold the lowest vaccination rates among racial groups statewide, at 28% and 35% respectively.

In Texas’ five most populous counties, disparities persist in vaccination rates

Counties are sorted by the gap in percentage points between fully vaccinated rates. Dallas has the largest gap and is shown first.

Note: Vaccination data is as of July 26.
Source: Texas Department of State Health Services, 2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Credit: Mandi Cai

For example, in Dallas County, 58% of the people in neighborhoods that are majority white were fully vaccinated as of July 26. Those rates are far ahead of neighborhoods that are majority Black and Hispanic, which are 37% vaccinated.

Black and Hispanic neighborhoods are some of the least vaccinated areas in Harris and Dallas counties

Around 40% of the state’s Black population and around a quarter of the state’s Hispanic population reside in just these two counties.

Note: Vaccination data is as of July 26. ZIP codes with margin of errors for their population estimates large enough
to sway their vaccination rates by more than 10 percentage points were grayed out.
Source: Texas Department of State Health Services, 2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Credit: Mandi Cai

There are nearly 200,000 people living in Travis County’s majority Hispanic ZIP codes — 42% are fully vaccinated as of July 26, compared with 62% of the county’s majority white ZIP codes.

Note: Vaccination data is as of July 26. ZIP codes with margin of errors for their population estimates large enough to sway their vaccination rates by more than 10 percentage points were grayed out.
Source: Texas Department of State Health Services, 2019 American Community Survey 5-year estimates
Credit: Mandi Cai
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