FOI Ref: FOI/2021/3395
You asked
Please supply the total number of deaths by all causes within 28 days of any or all covid 19 vaccinations.
We said
Thank you for your request.
We do not hold analysis on the counts of deaths by vaccination status for the population as the number of deaths depends on the living population with each vaccination status. In order to provide meaningful statistics on deaths by vaccination status, mortality rates should be calculated, adjusted by age due to the age-based prioritisation of the vaccine and taking into account changes in vaccination status over time.
While we hold data on mortality and receive data on vaccinations from the National Immunisation Management Service (NIMS), providing counts of deaths by vaccination status for the population would require a high level of statistical skill and judgement including complex data linkage and analysis of the mortality and vaccinations data to create a bespoke analysis or table. Under the Freedom of Information Act 2000, Public Authorities are not obligated to create information to respond to requests. We therefore consider this to be information not held.
We have published age-standardised mortality rates for all causes of death by vaccination status for months from January to October 2021 in our publication on 20th December, Deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status, England. These are calculated for deaths in unvaccinated people, deaths within 21 days of the first dose, deaths 21 days or more after the first dose, deaths within 21 days of the second dose and deaths 21 days or more after the second dose.
These rates are calculated using the Public Health Data Asset (PHDA), a linked dataset of people enumerated in the 2011 Census and registered with a GP in 2019 covering approximately 79% of the population in England aged 10+. This provides more accurate rates as the populations and counts of deaths are calculated from a person-level dataset. The population is calculated in person-years as this accounts for the changing vaccination status of people during the month. We will be publishing further updates to this dataset to include boosters and data for subsequent months. Counts of deaths for the population in the PHDA from which these rates are calculated are published in the accompanying datasets.
It should be noted that the characteristics of the people who get vaccinated can impact on mortality rates and counts of deaths from all causes within 21/28 days of vaccination. People who are unwell may delay vaccination until they are recovered, therefore the population who get vaccinated can be, in the short term, healthier than the population in general, reducing the risk of mortality. In addition, people who are vaccinated much later than their eligibility group or who do not go on to receive subsequent vaccinations when eligible, can differ in health from the general population, affecting the mortality rates. More analysis is provided in our publication on 20 December 2021, Deaths involving COVID-19 by vaccination status, England.