You asked
This is a request for freedom of information on the following question:
"how many people since the 8th of December have died of, or with COVID, having received either the AstraZeneca vaccine or the Pfizer vaccine'.
We said
Thank you for your enquiry.
Our mortality data is taken from the information provided on death certificates.
The death certificate used in England and Wales is compatible with that recommended by WHO. It is set out in two parts. Part I gives the condition or sequence of conditions leading directly to death, while Part II gives details of any associated conditions that contributed to the death but are not part of the causal sequence.
When ONS receive the data, we use computer algorithms to apply rules which increase the consistency and improve the international and temporal comparability of mortality statistics. Therefore, we can only report on what is recorded on the death certificate during this process. More information about the information included on the death certificate and our death registration process can be found in our mortality statistics user guide, accessible via the following link: User Guide to Mortality Statistics.
Whether someone has received the COVID-19 vaccine is not information that is supplied on the death certificate. This information will only be supplied if the vaccination had also contributed towards death. Therefore, we do not hold the information you have requested.
For deaths involving an adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccine, we will now use the recently implemented WHO International Classification of Diseases and Related Health Problems 10th Revision. ICD-10 code.
U12.9 - COVID-19 vaccines causing adverse effects in therapeutic use, unspecified
Note: This code is to be used as an external cause code (i.e. as a sub category under Y59, "Other and unspecified vaccines and biological substances""). In addition to this, a code from another chapter of the classification should be used indicating the nature of the adverse effect.
Correct administration of COVID-19 vaccine in prophylactic therapeutic use as the cause of any adverse effect
We are currently analysing data and will include these figures in the Monthly Mortality Analysis publication.