MIDLAND, Texas — Only one fully-vaccinated person has died at Medical Center Hospital.
The patient was in their 80s, living with pre-existing conditions.
Midland Memorial Hospital told NewsWest 9 no one in their care who has been vaccinated has died from COVID-19. All of the deaths are unvaccinated people.
It is those who have chosen not to get a vaccine, like the healthy 29-year-old who came into Medical Center with COVID-19 and died.
As of Wednesday, 9 out of 10 of those in the hospital with the virus have not been vaccinated.
And the hospitals do not have enough staff or room to keep up at this rate. Now it is a matter of convincing those who do not believe the data to get the vaccine.
“When you spend your whole day with people who have made choices to land them in the hospital when there were alternatives available, it taps some of your energy and makes things more difficult," Russell Meyers, Midland Health CEO, said.
Hospital workers throughout the Basin are having a hard time staying positive.
"It just mentally and physically wears our staff down," Russell Tippin, Medical Center Hospital CEO, said.
Right now, just under 40% of the population in Midland and Ector County is vaccinated.
As to why this is the case?
Larry Wilson, chief medical officer for Midland Memorial Hospital, points to misinformation, something proving to be just as contagious and dangerous as this virus.
"Think about the people who you have trusted for your information, maybe they’ve been really good sources of information for all the normal things that have gone on in life for years and years and years," Wilson said. "But this is not a normal virus. This is a novel virus. It’s behaving differently than all the things we’ve seen since 1918. Nobody alive today that you are going to be having a conversation with has experienced anything like this before.”
Here is the thing with the vaccine: it does not prevent the disease.
It does, however, give you a fighting chance.
“Those that are vaccinated aren’t getting as sick," Wilson said. "We haven’t have had a death amongst the people that are vaccinated in our community and just this month we've have 13 deaths.“
Now that we know a third booster shot of the vaccine will be offered to Americans starting Sept. 20, the hospitals told NewsWest 9 they are working on a distribution plan.
Leaders said they will release details on how the public can sign up for that third shot later this week.