Deaths in UK due to COVID-19 and COVID-19 vaccine

You asked

​Could you please send me the official number of COVID-19 deaths in the UK and the official number of COVID-19 vaccine deaths in the UK

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

COVID-19 deaths in the UK 2021

We publish headline COVID-19 UK figures in the UK as part of our Deaths Registered Weekly in England and Wales publication. This information can be found in table 5 of the spreadsheet. I have provided the summed totals for 2021 below.

2020 data

Using Deaths due to COVID-19, registered in England and Wales: 2020, I can provide deaths due to COVID-19 and deaths involving COVID-19 for 2020.

When we say that a death 'involved' COVID-19, we mean that COVID-19 was mentioned anywhere on the death certificate, possibly along with other health conditions, not necessarily as the underlying cause of death. When we say that a death was 'due to' COVID-19, we mean that COVID-19 was the underlying cause of death, because it was either the only health condition mentioned on the death certificate, or it was the one that started the train of events leading to death. COVID-19 is the underlying cause of death in around 92% of deaths where it was mentioned on the death certificate.

Deaths attributed to the COVID-19 Vaccine in England and Wales

You can find the number of deaths involving COVID-19 (not restricted to 28 days or first or second vaccination) in table 12 of our Monthly Mortality Analysis dataset, these include figures for deaths involving adverse reactions to the COVID-19 vaccination. There are currently 3 deaths registered with the aligning ICD codes for this. However, should this change, they will be updated in this table. This publication is due to be updated in July 2021.

Deaths within a period of time after vaccination

This information requires complex analysis linking vaccination records to death registrations. We are working on analysis on all aspects of the relationship between COVID-19 vaccination and mortality, which will be published soon. Once we have finalised these plans a publication date will be announced on our Release Calendar.

You can find figures published by the Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) here.