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Unvaccinated 16 times more likely to die from COVID-related illness, Texas Health Department says

The State of Texas has launched a new dashboard that breaks down vaccination status for positive COVID-19 cases and deaths.

AUSTIN, Texas — Since COVID-19 vaccines became available, experts have said that unvaccinated people are at higher risk of getting seriously ill or dying from COVID-19. Now, the Texas Health Department has data to back that up.

A new dashboard launched by the Texas Department of State Health Services shows unvaccinated Texans are 16 times more likely to die from COVID-related illnesses as the fully vaccinated Texans.

The data is from electronic lab reports, death certificates and the state immunization registry.  

The new dashboard also shows the unvaccinated are twice as likely to test positive for COVID-19 in Texas as the fully vaccinated. The number of fully vaccinated people testing positive has gone up since the highly contagious omicron variant first appeared in the U.S.

The current numbers are based on COVID cases and deaths in Texas through Dec. 24, 2021 and will be updated every two weeks, DSHS says. 

The risk of death in Texas is similar to the CDC's nationwide data, which shows the unvaccinated are 15 times more likely to die than people are fully vaccinated.

The CDC data also shows unvaccinated people have 68 times the risk of dying compared to people who are fully vaccinated with a booster.

Nationwide, the CDC says 63% of Americans are fully vaccinated with two doses, while 53% of eligible Americans have also received their booster.

Statewide, 62 percent of eligible Texans are fully vaccinated. Nearly 74% of Texans have had at least one dose of the COVID vaccine. 

You can see how Texas compares to other states on this CDC vaccination status tracker.

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