Health officials say 10 fully vaccinated Oregonians died from COVID-19 in July, correcting previously reported data

The Oregon Health Authority reported Monday that 10 of the 55 Oregonians who died from COVID-19 in July were fully immunized.

The report corrected information previously released by the agency, which initially reported that only five fully vaccinated Oregonians died from COVID-19 last month.

Health officials said epidemiologists found that five deaths among fully vaccinated people were incorrectly counted as deaths of unvaccinated individuals. The new data means that 18% of deaths from COVID-19 in the state in July were among fully vaccinated people.

Dr Melissa Sutton, medical director of respiratory viral pathogens at the Oregon Health Authority, said it was too early to say whether the new information represented a trend.

“The overall numbers still show that unvaccinated people are still at a much higher risk of contracting the COVID-19 disease, especially the Delta variant which is now found in most cases in Oregon,” Sutton said.

– Jayati Ramakrishnan; 503-221-4320; [email protected]; @JRamakrishnanOR