FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3442
You asked
Please supply figures for the those that have died who were fully vaccinated and those who were not vaccinated at all between 1st June and end of November 2021.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry regarding deaths by vaccination status.
We published weekly counts of deaths, population and age-standardized mortality rates by vaccination status in our most recent publication on this topic, "Deaths involving COVID-19 by Vaccination Status, England: deaths occurring between 2 January and 31 October 2021". In table 5, mortality data for England is available by month and vaccination status.
Our next publication will include November and December data including booster jabs which will be published in February 2022. Final release date will be announced on our Release Calendar.
As such, the information you have requested about November 2021 data is considered exempt under Section 22(1) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000, whereby information is exempt from release if there is a view to publish the information in the future. Furthermore, as a central government department and producer of official statistics, we need to have the freedom to be able to determine our own publication timetables. This is to allow us to deal with the necessary preparation, administration and context of publications. It would be unreasonable to consider disclosure when to do so would undermine our functions.
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. If this balance is incorrectly applied, then we run the risk of decisions being based on inaccurate data which is arguably not in the public interest. This will have an impact on public trust in official statistics in a time when accuracy of official statistics is more important to the public than ever before.