FOI Ref: FOI/2022/3897
You asked
Please supply the age profile of those that have died due to a COVID-19 vaccine.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry regarding deaths attributed to the COVID-19 vaccination.
Deaths involving the COVID-19 vaccination
Our data is derived from the death certificate, using information received at the point of death registration. For the vaccine to be mentioned on the death certificate the medical professional certifying the death must have believed, to the best of their knowledge, that the vaccine was part of the events that led to the death. Deaths reported as due to or involving the COVID-19 vaccination are recorded using ICD-10 code U12.9. We do not receive information on the brand of vaccination administered.
We report deaths attributed to adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination monthly within our Monthly Mortality Analysis. The latest data available is January 2022.
There are currently 24 deaths registered in England and Wales with the aligning ICD codes for this, 18 of these deaths have ICD-10 U12.9 as the underlying cause.
This data will be updated for February 2022 on 24 March 2022.
Please note that these are deaths across all age groups since the rollout of the vaccination in December 2020 and there are no deaths registered under the age of 30.
Unfortunately, due to the low numbers we are unable to provide further age disaggregation as this is personal information. Section 39 of the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007 (SRSA) renders it an offence to disclose information held by the Statistics Board for statistical purposes that would identify an individual or a body corporate. As we are prohibited by law from publishing statistics in which individuals can be identified, we find that Section 44 of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 (FOIA) applies. Section 44 is an absolute exemption and no consideration of the public interest test needs to be applied.
More information regarding the difference in ONS data to Yellow Card scheme data can be found in this blog. How many people have died as a result of a COVID-19 vaccine? | National Statistical (ons.gov.uk)
For further information please contact Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.