FOI Ref: FOI/2023/4941
You asked
Please can you provide the statistics for age standardised UK mortality between Jan 2019 – present detailing the following: Per Age Category: Primary Cause of Death and Covid-19 Vaccination Status. I'm afraid I don't know which categories are recorded for primary cause of death, but ideally along the lines of Sudden Adult/Infant Death Syndrome, Cardiac Arrest, Stroke, Cancer, etc?
The location of death (eg in or out of medical facility/hospital/care home) would also be useful, although not essential.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry
We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, this is driven by information collected from the death certificate at death registration. National Records Scotland (NRS) and Northern Ireland Statistics and Research Agency (NISRA) are responsible for statistics pertaining to Scotland and Northern Ireland. They can be contacted at foi@nrscotland.gov.uk and info@nisra.gov.uk respectively.
We hold the following analysis Deaths by vaccination status, England This analysis looks at deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19), non-COVID-19 deaths and all deaths by vaccination status, broken down by age group and includes age standardised mortality rate. Data is available from January 2021 as the vaccination programme did not start in England until December 2020, but the cohort of those who received the vaccination was small at this time.
The data are for England only, as vaccinations data for Wales is not yet available to be linked to the mortality dataset and the Public Health Data Asset (PHDA) covers England only.
Deaths by vaccination status and specific cause
We are currently working on putting together analysis looking at vaccine safety in cardiac and cancer patients, using the information requested. This work is ongoing, and we require the time and space to appropriately analyse and contextualise this data to ensure that we produce statistics that are high quality, valuable, and trustworthy, which in turn ensures that we continue to serve the public good. If we were to release this information prior to the completion of this process, we run the risk of producing misleading statistics that would obfuscate, rather than enhance public understanding. Therefore, the release of the requested data at this time would prejudice the purpose of this project and would undermine our reputation as a producer of reliable official statistics that serve the public.
As a result, Section 22A (b)(i) and (b)(iii) is engaged, whereby the information requested was obtained in the course of conducting an ongoing programme of research, which we have a view to publish, and release prior to our planned schedule would prejudice the research programme itself and the organisation conducting the research.
This exemption is subject to a public interest test. We recognise the desirability of information being freely available and this is considered by ONS when publication schedules are set in accordance with the Code of Practice for Statistics. The need for timely data must be balanced against the practicalities of applying statistical skill and judgement to produce the high quality, assured data needed to inform decision-making, which requires time and space. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data, which is not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when the accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before. This is particularly important given the public health implications of data surrounding the COVID-19 vaccines.
Once publication dates are finalised, they will be announced on our Release Calendar.
Deaths by vaccination status and place of occurrence
We have not conducted analysis of COVID-19 deaths by vaccination status by place of occurrence (place of death).
However, analysis of this data by place of occurrence can be ordered via our bespoke data service. This service subject to disclosure control, legal frameworks, resources and agreement to costs under the ONS Charging policy.
If you would like to discuss this further, or to obtain a quote for this work please contact the Health Analysis and Pandemic Insight (HAPI) Customer Service team at Health.Data@ons.gov.uk