Nebraskans vaccinated against COVID have fared far better recently than those who weren’t, according to a statement from the Douglas County Health Department.

The numbers cover five months from September of last year through January of this year.

We’re told that “people who were vaccinated without an updated booster were two times less likely to die from COVID-19 as those who were unvaccinated.”

Nearly two years ago NCN asked one of Nebraska’s leading experts on COVID to delve into the booster world.

Joe Jordan, News Channel Nebraska: “Do you have a timetable as to when science will know if and when we need a booster?”

Dr. Mark Rupp, University of Nebraska Medical Center: “I wish I could give you a real hard and fast answer, but I really can’t. It’s going to depend on how people do, what their immunological system does, how fast we see the waning of immunity. Now, we’re very encouraged thus far that the vaccines that we have appear to be very protective, very active against the variants that we’ve seen thus far.”

Fast forward to today and according to Douglas County the plus side of vaccinations with boosters is a major win. “Those individuals who received the bivalent booster were 17 times less likely to die from COVID-19 than were the unvaccinated people.”