Pexels / Gustavo Fring
Texas also ranked dead last when it came to the number of residents with health insurance, according to the study.
It could be because Texas is among the nation's least vaccinated states, according to new study from finance blog WalletHub.
With flu season closing in, researchers for the report compared all 50 states and the District of Columbia across 16 metrics, including the share of children, teens, and adults vaccinated against various diseases compared to the share of residents without health insurance.
Texas ranked as the fifth-least vaccinated state. Mississippi ranked as the least-vaccinated state, followed by Alaska, Kentucky and Oklahoma.
Diving deeper into the numbers, Texas ranked among the 10 worst states when it comes to the share of teenagers with up-to-date HPV vaccinations, for flu vaccination coverage among adults and the share of children under 6 participating in an immunization information system.
Texas also ranked dead last in share of residents with health insurance coverage.
Dr. Olveen Carrasquillo, a University of Miami professor of medicine and public health, quoted in the study said the high share of unvaccinated residents in some states is due to the spread of misinformation. Slipping confidence in vaccines has even led to recent disease outbreaks, the professor cautioned.
"Confidence in vaccines is critically important," Carrasquillo said. "Sadly, with vaccine resistance, we are now seeing outbreaks of things like measles that we had nearly eradicated."
Once a fringe theory, anti-vax rhetoric became a mainstream conservative talking point during the COVID-19 pandemic. Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump has even seemingly embraced the idea, earning the endorsement of anti-vaccine crusader Robert F. Kennedy last month.
Indeed, every one of WalletHub's top five least-vaccinated states voted Republican in the last presidential election.
On the other side of the spectrum, Rhode Island ranked as the nation's most vaccinated state, followed by Massachusetts at No. 2 and Maine at No. 3, respectively.
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