​FOI Ref: FOI/2022/4710

You asked

​What is the total number of people who have died within 30 days of taking the COVID-19 vaccine injection in the UK?

We said

Thank you for your request.

We are responsible for the production of mortality data for England and Wales, 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.

We hold the following analysis, which provides age-standardised mortality rates for deaths involving coronavirus (COVID-19), non-COVID-19 deaths and all deaths by vaccination status, broken down by age group: Deaths by vaccination status, England. This information is for England only, as we do not currently hold vaccination status data for Wales.

Table 7 provides whole period counts of all registered deaths by vaccination status by age group; for all deaths and deaths involving COVID-19, deaths occurring between 1 January 2021 and 31 May 2022 by the following definitions:

  • Unvaccinated    
  • Vaccinated with first dose only, less than 21 days after first vaccination (First dose, less than 21 days ago)
  • Vaccinated with first dose only, at least 21 days after first vaccination (First dose, at least 21 days ago)
  • Vaccinated with first and second doses, less than 21 days after second vaccination (Second dose, less than 21 days ago)
  • Vaccinated with first and second doses, at least 21 days but less than 6 months after second vaccination         (Second dose, between 21 days and 6 months ago)
  • Vaccinated with first and second doses, at least 6 months after second vaccination (Second dose, at least 6 months ago)
  • Vaccinated with at least first, second and third dose and/or booster, less than 21 days after third or booster vaccination (Third dose or booster, less than 21 days ago)
  • Vaccinated with at least first, second and third dose and/or booster, at least 21 days after third or booster vaccination (Third dose or booster, at least 21 days ago)
  • Ever vaccinated - which includes anyone who has had at least 1 dose of the vaccine, regardless of further doses.

The data have been compiled from 21 days after vaccination, as this is when the vaccine starts to be effective. Therefore, the requested information for deaths within 30 days specifically is not held.

Please note, there will be a delay in publishing the next edition of the deaths by vaccination status dataset as we require data on subsequent booster vaccinations and will be updating to the 2021 Census populations. The next publication date will be announced on our Release Calendar.

Please note this data does not include deaths attributed to adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination. Deaths which include adverse reaction to the COVID-19 vaccination as either the underlying cause or contributory mention are recorded in table 12 as part of our Monthly Mortality Analysis.

If you have any queries about the data in our response, please contact our Health Analysis and Pandemic Insights (HAPI) customer services team at Health.Data@ons.gov.uk.