Starting Monday, March 15, Texans age 50 and older will be eligible to receive the COVID-19 vaccine.

Those over 50 will join the current eligibility pool consisting of people over the age of 65 and those ages 16 and up who have underlying health issues.

According to NewsWest 9, the Texas Department of State Health Services says that over 93% of COVID-19 fatalities in Texas have been people over the age of 50, with 20% being between the ages of 50 and 64.

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Last week, Texas added school and child care workers to the group of those eligible to receive the vaccine.

Imelda Garcia, DSHS associate commissioner for laboratory and infectious disease services and chair of the Expert Vaccine Allocation Panel, says hospitalizations and deaths have greatly reduced since vaccinations began:

We’ve seen a remarkable decrease in the number of hospitalizations and deaths since people 65 and older started becoming fully vaccinated in January. Expanding to ages 50 to 64 will continue the state’s priorities of protecting those at the greatest risk of severe outcomes and preserving the state’s health care system.

So far, over half of Texas senior citizens have received at least one dose of the COVID-19 vaccine, with 30% being fully vaccinated. The number of positive cases in Texas has steadily declined since vaccinations began.

Earlier this week, the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) updated its guidance for those who have been fully vaccinated. It’s likely the guidance will again be updated as more individuals receive the vaccine.

LOOK: Answers to 30 common COVID-19 vaccine questions

While much is still unknown about the coronavirus and the future, what is known is that the currently available vaccines have gone through all three trial phases and are safe and effective. It will be necessary for as many Americans as possible to be vaccinated in order to finally return to some level of pre-pandemic normalcy, and hopefully these 30 answers provided here will help readers get vaccinated as soon they are able.

READ ON: See the States Where People Live the Longest

Stacker used data from the 2020 County Health Rankings to rank every state's average life expectancy from lowest to highest. The 2020 County Health Rankings values were calculated using mortality counts from the 2016-2018 National Center for Health Statistics. The U.S. Census 2019 American Community Survey and America's Health Rankings Senior Report 2019 data were also used to provide demographics on the senior population of each state and the state's rank on senior health care, respectively.

Read on to learn the average life expectancy in each state.

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